October Was Good

October is my favorite month pretty much every year, but this year, in hindsight, it has a special charm. As well as my birthday (yay!) and pretty leaves, my parents came down from Maine early in the month and, aside from an "opening" visit to the emergency room on arrival, my mom seemed... not much worse. Still game for a little walk around the park or a good dinner or both!

Then yesterday she had a seizure in the morning, so we brought her into the ER. We figured another UTI, which is what it was last time. They ran her through the various scanners and the ER doctor came in and told us she did not have a UTI. That test looked good. I've had vets convey the bad news about sick hamsters with more sensitivity than this guy when he went on to say that they did see a a malignant node in her lung, and that the "malignancy" had spread to her spine, between her vertebrae. So we'd need to decide what treatment options we wanted to pursue. And make arrangements with her primary care physician (who's in Maine, and doesn't know anything about cancer treatments in NC). And he left. And we sat there, shattered.

Then the admitting doctor from the hospital showed up. Pleasant fellow. Explained that there were no signs of a UTI, but that her brain deterioration (Progressive Nonfluent Aphasia, a form of frontotemporal dementia) probably was triggering the seizures, and that he recommended she start on an anti seizure medication (Keppra?). Cheerful smile. Problem solved? My dad and I had been listening to him, still stunned from the last doctor's visit, waiting for him to get to the bit about how this treatment would relate to the cancer. As he appeared to be heading off we finally asked, "But... what about the cancer?" And he stared at us in appalled surprise. Cancer? First he'd heard of it -- he'd have to go consult the with ER doctor. So, my dad, who is smart, said he wasn't going to get his hopes up, but I thought maybe, just maybe, that first doctor had the wrong room. Or papers got mixed up. The cancer was so out of the blue. But no. The admitting doctor still recommended anti seizure medication, but we needed to get cracking with Mom's PCP on referrals for a biopsy, etc. And he admitted her for an overnight stay.

This morning, though, I went to the hospital after dropping Katie off at school and Mom was looking pretty much as usual. Not uncomfortable, reasonably alert, and the nurse said she'd eaten her breakfast with a good appetite. And my dad got there before the doctor reached us on his rounds. The same guy who admitted her yesterday afternoon (the second doctor). And he was wonderful. Said he'd thought about Mom's situation last night and about how difficult it would be for her Maine doctor to know where to refer her, so he'd decided to take care of that himself. He's getting her in with the expert cancer people in Winston, who also have a couple oncologists who visit our local hospital. And they gave us a list of primary care doctors around here who are taking patients, which is a help. So, things aren't better but we have a handle on how to proceed, which is pretty huge. And, as we've have the opportunity to notice before, the people at our local hospital are So nice. And Mom is being released this afternoon and Dad thinks they'll come over for dinner, and he feels comfortable enough about her present condition to go do a bit of volunteering with the orchids at Reynolda Gardens in Winston tomorrow. So, I still feel wistful for the less dramatic state of things in October, but human kindness is a blessing.

And here are a couple pictures of Mom and Finny, from last Thursday or Friday...

 And Mom and Kali...

And some from Halloween (Katie had friends over for Halloween & had a good time. Travis went to his English class, which meets from 6:30 to 9:30 at night. He might have had a good time, but he didn't say.)

(Katie painted us, just for fun.)

This was for a school dance. Isn't she cute? I think she's a... cool zombie?

Oh, and my Birthday. I tried to post pictures back in the beginning of October, but Blogger wasn't in the mood and eventually I forgot.

They got me this extremely flattering Minion suit. It is soft and warm, but I'm not sure they take me entirely seriously when I'm wearing it. Or, actually, when I'm not. But the Minion suit does not convey authority. But... warm!

And a few more pet pictures. Because a warm puppy or kitten doesn't make everything better, but it makes the rotten things a little less bad. Which is something.