the second phase of the san fran journey

hello all - sorry for the silence. i know some have been concerned. it's only been quiet because we've been very busy here in san francisco.

my mom was discharged from UCSF on wednesday. we made a decision, at the suggestion of the doctors and therapists there, to check her into an in-patient acute rehabilitation center. she'll be there for 1-2 weeks.

this rehab center is kind of like bootcamp for "crainies" (as the nurses lovingly call brain surgery patients) and stroke victims. it's going to be a lot of work for her, but it's a great environment for really challenging her mind and body. today i watched part of physical therapy. she was being asked to balance on this rocking board as she rocked it front and back. she looked a little like she was practicing to become a surfer. then she was asked to walk down the hall and count at this same time in numbers divisible by 3. all this multitasking is complex activities forcing her brain to work and getting her body back to being comfortable doing things it normally does without any thought. normally walking is an unconscious activity. for my mom, it's something she has to focus on right now so she stays balanced. the plan is to leave there much further along than we would have been if we were at home trying to do all this on our own. we want her to be safe and side-effect-free, as soon as possible!

her schedule goes something like this:

8am - breakfast with me and bill (brought from the outside, as i can't bare to have her eat hospital food)
9-9:45 - physical therapy
10:15-11 - occupational therapy
11-11:30 - cognitive/speech therapy
11:30-2:30 - break for lunch with us
2:30-3:15 physical therapy
3:45-4:30 occupational therapy
hang out in the late afternoon.

dinner is usually brought in by one of my wonderful friends. tonight we started to watch a movie together on my laptop, but she was so exhausted, we stopped it half way through and she went to bed.

the dilantin, which she was allergic to, is finally out of her system, so she's in much better spirits, has a surprising amount of energy, and is looking great. her head is healing nicely and the sutures will come out on monday. her balance gets better and better each day, as does her memory.

my parents will probably stay in the bay area through jan. 10 or so, as we have set up a few consults for the first week of january that will be very important in helping us to decide next steps. jan. 2 @ 7pm we will have a follow up mri. this will be very important for determining what kind of radiation course my mom will get. our hope is that the mri will still be clear. if this is the case, we'll probably wind up doing gamma knife radiation, which is a highly-targeted one day treatment. on jan. 4 we are meeting with dr. penny sneed, who is co-director of the ucsf gamma knife radiosurgery program. she comes highly recommended as a radiation oncologist and specializes in brain tumors. on jan. 8, the ucsf gyn oncology team will present my mom's case at their tumor board. "tumor board" is a meeting that is held each week in each specialty at ucsf. all the docs in that specialty get together and discuss some cases. it's a great opportunity to have my mom's case discussed with a large group of experts in their field. you may recall, we also had her case presented at the gamma knife tumor board in late november.
after the tumor board presentation, we'll be meeting with one of the gynecological oncologists at ucsf, dr. lee-may chen. interestingly, she's one of the directors of the cancer risk prevention group, which i am a part of, so i am already a patient of hers.

once we've met with these docs here and discussed all the options with my mom's oncologist, dr. ampuero, we'll make some treatment decisions. dr. ampuero is also consulting with a doctor he knows from md anderson, maurie markman. dr. ampuero thinks that dr. markman is the best gyn oncologist in the country.

i feel so blessed that i have been able to connect with as many top-rate doctors as i have here and that we continue to be able to get appointments set without too much difficulty. each day we continue to receive fantastic care for my mom and i am reminded at how lucky we are. there are so many families going through what we're going through without the skills, knowledge, and financial and emotional means. we were able to come to this wonderful place for treatment with minimal financial burden. bill and i can be my mom's "patient advocate" on a daily basis. we are educated and we speak english as a first language. i realized, once i finally looked at a calendar, that the anniversary of my father's death was the day of my mom's surgery here. i like to think that he is acting as her guardian angel on some level, watching out for us on this journey.

please help me to pray for my mom's continued recovery.

may laura's brain heal quickly and completely from the traumas it has sustained.
may her physical strength come back easily and without too much work.
may her cognition improve moment by moment as she moves quickly towards wholeness again.
may her emotional strength continue to guide her on this journey.
may these excellent doctors guide us well on our treatment path.
may treatment be as quick and painless as possible
may she sleep peacefully each night and dream of the many, many wonderful years ahead of her
may the oceans of prayers wash over her and clear her mind and body
may she be healed emotionally and physically
and may the cancer be rid of her body so that we never, ever, ever, ever, ever have to go through this again.

as always, we are so thankful for all your love, blessings, and support.

sarah and bill