Oh Boy

My Mom called yesterday morning. After the fall she took on Thanksgiving her neck had gotten very stiff. Then it began getting very sore - too sore.

So in the middle of the night Sunday she drove herself to the hospital to have things looked at further. She had two fractured vertabrae, both high on the spine near the skull.

They set her up with a hard brace around her neck and some serious pain killers to deal with the serious pain. In four-weeks she's scheduled for a review to see if she can switch to a soft neck brace.

Oh boy! She once told me during a tough spell for my Dad that I had to stay healthy because she could only handle one of us down at a time. She's not taking her own advice!

She was of good spirits yesterday. Perhaps it was the pain killers. I don't know. I do know how bad the pain can be from a spine injury. I do know that she's going to have to do some serious relaxing for many weeks to come to let everything heal. I hope she can sit still. Sitting still isn't always that easy.

Don't worry about things Mom. Just be patient and let things heal.

Without an Interferon injection Friday or Monday I'm starting to feel a little stronger. I understand that it may take a little while to clear this stuff from my system.

I called my oncologist yesterday. It has always impressed me that my oncologist provided me with his cell phone number many months ago. I don't abuse that privilege. I remember telling a nurse once that I'd call the doctor on his cell phone. She looked at me with complete shock and said, "You have his cell phone number?" She had been unsuccessfully trying to get ahold of him.

I thought it was important to let him know my decision to stop the Interferon injections. It was something we had discussed previously so I knew he'd be OK with this, taking a "drug holiday."

He called back in the middle of dinner last night. We don't answer the phone during dinner. He left a message expressing his regret that the drug effects on me were so harsh. He suggested that we could cut the dose in half, or perhaps do a full dose only once a week. I'll have to consider those options, although I think I'm leaning towards the once a week choice. We'll see.