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Adrian

May 21, 2022: A Good Day

May 21, 2022 by Adrian Leave a Comment

Mom’s good days continue. The past 24-hours were just fine; some mild symptoms (a little pain, a little nausea), but nothing that was not managed efficiently. I slept over this past Wednesday and Thursday night; since I work out of the empty bedrooms upstairs, I feel like I have been “at the house” for almost 3 days straight. Last night my sister Angella took over, and I am having a quite cup of coffee in an increasingly warm house. It should hit 98 (!) today, which Mom should love as she always feels about 15 degrees cooler than the rest of us. In any event, here we are with a warm (!) and sunny Saturday morning in May, and all is as well as can be.

Filed Under: Chemo 3, Daily Status

Team Purple Firefox Summer T-Shirts Now Available

May 20, 2022 by Adrian Leave a Comment

We’ve created a new design just for summer, and it includes t-shirts, tank tops, and even a new coffee mug.

We’ve got a retro “1986 Wildwood boardwalk t-shirt shop” vibe on the front, and our purple firefox, but with sunglasses, on the back.

Proceeds from all sales go to Mom and help with whatever costs arise.

We sold 75 of the original t-shirts and raised over $700, so thank you!

We hope you like these new ones just as much.

Team Purple Firefox Summer
Shop Now

Filed Under: Merch, Update

May 20, 2022: A Good Day

May 20, 2022 by Adrian Leave a Comment

The last 24-hours were OK for Mom; some increased uncomfortableness, which Mom finds annoying. I’m going with green because Mom had no additional symptoms and she ate well and slept well. The at-home nurse came yesterday and disconnected the chemo, and set Mom up on some IV fluids. They will come back today for another round of IV fluids, and then we’ll head into the weekend.

Filed Under: Chemo 3, Daily Status

Round Three Tea

May 19, 2022 by Adrian 1 Comment

Mom’s third round of chemotherapy comes to an end today. Here are some thoughts about the experience, with one eye looking at how things compared to rounds one and two and one eye looking at what’s next.

Chemo Day

On Tuesday, May 17th, Mom, Alia, and I set out for Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center to meet with Mom’s provider and settle in for 5-hours of infusion (chemo).

It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia

To avoid being sent home with low white blood cells (WBC) again, Mom had bloodwork done at a local Labcorp the day before. While it took over a day to get the results, we did get them before we left, so we knew the WBC would not be an issue this time. For those of you keeping score at home, Mom’s WBC was 5.1, and her ANC was 2.3. The numbers were lower, but they were well within range.

The first part of the day involves meeting with Mom’s provider, Abigail Smith, CRNP, MSN. Abby works for Mom’s primary oncologist, Peter J. O’Dwyer, MD. We generally meet with Dr. O’Dwyer every four infusions and meet with Abby during the other infusions.

Abby told Mom repeatedly that Mom was doing amazing. She said Mom’s numbers were fantastic and that the dosage adjustments made after round one seemed to be working great. Mom’s vitals (blood pressure, weight, etc.) were excellent. Abby ordered a CT scan after round four in a few weeks and ordered an appointment with Dr. O’Dwyer to review it; she also suggested we schedule Mom’s rounds five and six for after that.

We’ve developed a pretty good routine for these chemo visits; Alia and I and Mom make a nice team.

Mom, not impressed with that backsplash.

Around noon we were assigned a room for infusion; the nursing staff in the infusion wing were incredible (as always). The hours passed without incident, and much criticism of whatever was on HGTV. The “coastal look” is cool and everything if you are, you know, on, or at least near, a coast; it is silly when you are a few hundred miles inland from any saltwater. Anyway.

Mom’s chemo is called FOLFIRINOX, and it is actually three different kinds of chemo; they administer two while at Penn and hook up the third to a small pump that Mom has to wear at home for 48 hours, which is fun for Mom.

When the first two parts finished, we packed up and headed for home. The prescription I should have ordered days ago was finally ready, so we picked that up and were settled in for a late dinner.

Two of Mom’s granddaughters slept over that first night, and we have family scheduled for sleepovers for the rest of the week.

Later this afternoon, the at-home nurse should arrive to deaccess the chemo from Mom’s chest port and hook up some IV fluids, a wrap on round three.

The Past

We don’t want to get too hung up on looking for repeatable patterns. However, I can’t help it. I color-coded each day as Good, Medium, or Bad for Mom since she got the diagnosis. I also colored the chemo days. I set up a page on this website to display them all.

I hope that, perhaps, some pattern might emerge. I know we have to take each day one at a time, but I also believe you can manage anxiety and stress if you can create a framework of expectations. I think sometimes fear is a pain amplifier.

Here is what the grid looks like now:

The sample size is too small, but still, it appears Mom has maybe four good days after chemo followed by a bad day, followed by a string of good days. 

We’ll see if this pattern holds at all.

The Future

We scheduled Chemo 4 for a few weeks from now; we’ll continue to get the bloodwork done a day or so before at Labcorp. 

Then, in June, Mom will have a CT scan done to see what impact the chemo has had on her tumor. It is possible that the tumor may have shrunk, is the same size, or continued to grow. Some of those options are better than others. We will meet with Dr. O’Dwyer to review and determine if we make any changes to the chemo cocktail Mom is currently on.

We’ll keep on keeping on…

So, we’ve marked up the appointment calendar through July, with some significant events in the next few weeks.

Your continued prayers, wishes, and support are welcome and needed; this is a marathon, not a sprint.

Jesus broke off of Mom’s crucifix during Chemo 2, but we Found Jesus again during Chemo 3. Draw your own conclusions.

Are you interested in helping by bringing over dinner one night?

Click Here and pick a day!

Filed Under: Abramson Cancer Center, Update

May 19, 2022: A Good Day

May 19, 2022 by Adrian Leave a Comment

The last 24 hours were pretty good for Mom. There were some symptoms, mostly mild pain, and all resolved quickly. Mom slept and ate well and spent lots of time with 2 of her granddaughters yesterday working on sweeping and scrubbing the front porch and cleaning things up out front. Lots of food and family in the house.

Filed Under: Chemo 3, Daily Status

May 18, 2022: A Good Day

May 18, 2022 by Adrian Leave a Comment

Mom has had a good last 24-hours. Chemo3 went off without a hitch, and Mom slept through the night with no issues. Has some increased neuropathy (mild). At-home chemo has another 24 hours. So far, so good.

Filed Under: Chemo 3, Daily Status

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All Posts

From earliest to latest.

My Mom is Very Sick

March 25, 2022

Home, But Different

March 26, 2022

Amazing Grace Indeed

March 27, 2022

Home Office

March 29, 2022

The New Normal

April 6, 2022

Olympic Training

April 7, 2022

Port Replacement Successful

April 8, 2022

Chemo Kick-Off

April 11, 2022

Round One About Done

April 14, 2022

Well, Today Sucked

April 16, 2022

We had a Wonderful Easter

April 18, 2022

Chemo 2: BLOCKED

April 25, 2022

This Is Your Gravy

April 26, 2022

A New Way to Help

April 28, 2022

Chemo 2: Part 2… and Part 3

May 4, 2022

It’s Been A Roller Coaster

May 16, 2022

Round Three Tea

May 19, 2022

Team Purple Firefox Summer T-Shirts Now Available

May 20, 2022

A Few Days to Reflect with Gratitude

May 31, 2022

Round Four Out the Door

June 6, 2022

Faith and Reason

June 12, 2022

CT Scan Results Could be Better, but Could be Worse

June 14, 2022

Life is Full of Gems

June 15, 2022

An ER Vigil in Atlantic City

June 17, 2022

A Day on the Beach

July 22, 2022

Round Two Complete

August 10, 2022

Not Very Good at All

August 24, 2022

Mom is Going on Hospice

September 7, 2022

A Hard Week

September 15, 2022

A Liminal Time

October 15, 2022

Goodbye to the Best of All of Us

October 28, 2022

Memorial Arrangements for Maria Hoppel

October 29, 2022

Words of Rememberance (Eulogy) for Maria Hoppel

November 4, 2022

We Did It.

November 5, 2022

Mom’s Thanksgiving without Mom

November 25, 2022

And So This is Christmas

December 20, 2022




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