Chemotherapy starts

Dad had his first chemotherapy treatment yesterday. My mom went with him. Today he was very tired.

My dad and mom also saw Dr. Ritch yesterday. Dad will be seeing him once a month. Dr. Ritch had a different pathologist look at the slides of the samples taken during my dad's surgery. Dr. Ritch's pathologist found the tumor in the gallbladder to be benign! Also, the samples of the studding in the peritineum were all negative for cancer, too! Because the lymph nodes have cancer in them, however, the prognosis hasn't changed. It is still metastatic terminal cancer.

(A dictionary of cancer terms is available at the National Cancer Institute Website.)

Also, my mom saw the surgeon about her elbow recently. The bad news is that her injury extended to both sides of the elbow. Only one side was repaired during the surgery. When Mom asked the doctor why he didn't fix both sides, he explained that both sides can't be repaired at the same time. That type of repair would lead to a stiff elbow. For now she is limited to lifting no more than 10 pounds, so she can still lift Tilly! Mom will begin physical therapy next week.