A meeting with the fashionable NAM

Today was a big day in terms of my mom's treatment.  Since she was diagnosed with the ovarian cancer, they said that they won't be able to tell us how she's responding to treatment until after chemo #3.  So, we finally met with the awesome gyne oncologist today - the fashionable Dr. N. A-M.  It was great seeing her again.  The CT scan showed that the chemo has dried up the malignant fluid around the lungs, it shrunk the smaller tumors on her omentum, and it shrunk the lymph nodes.  It hasn't shrunk the big tumor, but surgery will tackle that.  Now we're hoping (!!!) that they'll be able to remove it all during surgery (which isn't always the case).  Hospital stay is expected to be four to seven days.  She gave us a pep talk about how we shouldn't look at survival rates.  Response to chemo is good, and the fact that they can still operate on my mom is good.  This isn't the case for all patients.  She said we're in the coping stage; we've accepted that this is what we're dealing with, so now just have to make the best of it.

We also talked about how this affects me.  She said if I want the genetic testing I need to get a referral through my family doctor, and based on my mom's history, I should start watching things carefully by age 47 (ten years younger than one's mother when first diagnosed).  Still, this doesn't even mean that my mom has a mutated gene, just that there is a small possibility (0.1 to 0.2% of the population carries this mutated gene).   If one carries the gene, they recommend contraceptive pills as they cut the risk by 60%; guess I'm covered there at least.  They'd also recommend having all female insides removed by age 45.  It's a lot to take in.

So, as my mom's response to chemo was 'good' news in the greater scheme of things (forgetting the two additional hospitalizations since this started), I headed to the big ugly mall today instead of tomorrow.  Had a little shopping spree at H&M - cute little booties, a polkadot mini dress, a work shirt, and a new nightshirt.  Then a long flowy outer layer from another store, followed by a mini chocolate treat from Purdy's.  Oh, and an anti-stress aromatherapy oil.  I'm feeling pampered.

I'm in the city until Saturday morning or noon-ish, so will head out to FP on Friday night to catch the meteor shower for a couple of hours.