September 28th

Well, not much to report. Mom's still having some pain continuously, but no spikes of unbearable pain. Her treatments are going well, with the side effect of weakening her. She's eating a little bit of food here and there, and today when I called to check up on her, much to papa's chagrin, she was watching the WE network movie, so she was pretty set. She has one more treatment for this week tomorrow morning and I believe she is "off" on the weekends :) She's looking forward to the UGA football game v. Ole Miss on Saturday. That's all for now...

~Lindsey

September 27th

First of all, for those who are having trouble leaving comments, I think I have fixed that so try it again. Simply click the "comments" link below and then select "other" when it asks you to choose an identity. You can type your name in that blank to let others know who it is who's posting. So give that a try!

Mom had her stitches out today and everything with that went fine. She gets to wash her hair normally tomorrow and she's looking forward to that.

She hasn't had any bad episodes since Monday, so that's promising. Her pain is still there, around a 4 or 5, but the fact that the episodes are becoming less and less is very hopeful.

Her appetite is coming back as well. She asked Memaw to make meatloaf with mash potatoes and green beans and although she only ate a few bites of each, the fact that she is even asking for certain types of food is a huge improvement! In the past, nothing has sounded appealing and she's stuck to Cream of Wheat and pudding to subsist on.

The radiation does wear her out a little so her afternoons are spent napping and resting in bed. Which is fine because she hasn't slept very well since all this started in July so she still needs to catch up on missed sleep!

Thanks again, everyone. And give the comments a try if you haven't been able to. I think I fixed it. ♥

~Lindsey

September 26th

Mom had her 2nd treatment today and it went well. Uncle Robbie talked with the radiologist and he explained that the first couple of treatments might agitate the tumor because it causes inflammation. But, after that, it should start to help with the pain and eventually shrink the tumor. That explains why mom had such a tough time yesterday. But today she was better. No bad episodes and she is reporting her pain around a 4.

Dr. Blanco, her radiologist, says she should have around 18 or so treatments so a little over 3 weeks worth and we should be good to go. I can already tell a slight improvement in just looking at her face. And, her hair is already growing back pretty quickly.

She gets her stitches out tomorrow and we plan on asking Dr. Steuer about the biopsy results then. As always, thanks for checking the blog and continue your prayers for her quick recovery.

~Lindsey

September 25th

Mom began her radiation treatments today and everything went well. In fact, she didn't even know that they were actually giving her the radiation! She just thought they were taking more pictures and mapping out the process to begin the radiation. Which I guess is good, it can't be all that bad if you don't even notice it, right?

She is still having the episodes of intense pain here and there. These are extremely painful and the best way to describe it is that it comes very quickly and usually lasts only 2-4 minutes, but those minutes are the most horrible for her and she has a really hard time with it. So please continue to pray for her to get better in that regard. Hopefully, the radiation will help.

Dr. Carter assured Pat today that this isn't life threatening, which is great news to hear. It's just hard when she's dealing with these bouts of pain that come and go.

Continue to pray for her as we begin the treatment stage. Thanks for checking in!♥

Lindsey

September 24th

Well mom's weekend had its ups and downs. She felt so good on Friday that she went outside, played with Jason's dog and did a bunch of things she was meaning to do. But then it kinda wore her out so she didn't really do much Saturday. She was too tired. On Sunday, she had a painful epoisode, but Memaw and Papa remidied that with some extra percocet...and then they called the doctor to make sure that was ok, and it was.

Tomorrow should begin the radiation process. And after I speak to her tomorrow, I should have some more updates.

Thanks everyone for checking this blog. I'm sure there are many of you who check it everyday and I thank everyone for spreading the word/site address. The more the merrier when it comes to praying for mom.

This weekend....

Well mom is leaving Northside tomorrow and then she will hopefully go over to St. Josephs to get everything prepped for her radiation. She will be at my grandparents once again and will be on oral meds again for the pain. Now they've given her something for nausea so she should be good to go.

I will be out of town celebrating mine and my husbands one year anniversary so I won't be able to update you guys until Sunday (unless I get ahold of a computer while out of town!). So if you need to speak with mom or memaw or papa, give them a call @ 770-435-7216 and again, their address is below in the "Mom's New Address" post.

~Lindsey

September 21st

Well, around we go. Mom will not be undergoing radiation until Monday after all. They want to do the radiation at St. Joseph's because the technology is more advanced there than at Northside. They've given her medicine for her nausea and once again, her pain is back under control. She is going to be discharged from the hospital tomorrow and will go back to my grandparents with them. She will report to St. Josephs tomorrow so they can "map out" her radiation treatment. I know all of this is getting confusing from her going back and forth between hospitals and in and out of hospitals at that!

I hope to have more later.....

~Lindsey

September 20th

Today, we put mom back in the hospital because the oral meds weren't working very well for the pain and also, it's becoming harder and harder for her to swallow. On top of all that, she was getting sick from the pain meds she was taking and that was also reason to get her back on an IV.

Pat took her to the emergency room around 3:00pm or so and she finally got a room around 7:00pm - room 444. They were able to get her IV in and get some fluids in her as well as some pain medicine. Hopefully, that will do the trick.

Dr. Steuer has decided to begin the radiation treatment tomorrow, since mom's incision from the brain biopsy is healing very nicely. In fact, she was cleared to carefully wash her hair, which she is very happy about, since she has not been able to wash it for about a week now.

Still no word on the pathology tests. I'm assuming they are having more people look at the sample to try and determine what it is we have here. But regardless, what's important is that the radiation starts tomorrow and we're on the road to recovery from their on in.

If you have any questions, feel free to click on the "comments" link below and ask me. I check this several times a day and can get back to you relatively quickly. Continue your prayers for her. She needs them. Thanks again.

~Lindsey

The Latest..

They didn't call us with the pathology results today, but we did call them and they assured us that she was top on their list and they were currently working on it. I'm guessing that they simply don't know what it is because, as Dr. Steuer said, this is a very unusual case and is something they haven't seen before. We hope they get back to us, even if it is with a "we don't know" response. That way, we can get the pathology slides to Houston if we have to and have them review the case.

My grandparents' place looks like a florist and smells wonderful, thanks to all the flowers and plants and goody baskets. Thank you to everyone who sent her something. All of the arrangements look beautiful and really cheer the place up. I sat with her tonight for a few hours and we watched House and the Braves, and I gave her a foot rub, which she loved :) We're still struggling with some pain here and there, so continue the kind thoughts and prayers. Espceially pray for things to happen more quickly so we can get her some treatment and get her better!

I hope to post tomorrow that they have the pathology results back and have a diagnosis and a way to treat it.

Oh yeah.... the phone is ringing off the hook @ my grandparents and driving them crazy, especially at night, so try and call earlier in the day and not too much, for their sake! Thanks everyone....

~Lindsey

Mom's new address

People are asking where they can send stuff so here is the address if you feel so inclined:

Krista Cadenhead
4788 Hanson Drive
Smyrna, GA 30082

And if you want to speak to her:

770-435-7216

Thanks for everyone's support - yet again :)

We're still waiting to hear from Northside about the pathology report.....

September 19th

Mom is settled at memaw and papa's house in Smyrna and is now on oral meds only. She is continuing to take the steroids and the percocet to help with her pain. She still has flare ups in her face, but the meds are helping and thank the Lord that he allowed us to find a way to manage it for her.

The cancer center in Houston that Aunt Pat (mom's sister) was going to fly over to with mom's pathology slides and MRI's is asking to see mom so now we think that Pat AND mom are going to have to go. If that's the case, I believe she has an appointment on Sept. 27th to see the specialists over there.

We are still waiting to hear about the preliminary tests from pathology. We should get those results today. We'll know more after we get that back.

I'm not sure how this appt. in Houston will effect her radiation treatments. As far as I know, she still is going to start radiation next Monday so we'll see. Hopefully, I will have some more answers later today or tomorrow.

Continue to pray for her pain management and that the pathology results come back in our favor.

~Lindsey

September 18th

Well mom is still on schedule to leave the hospital today. She did have an episode again last night with the pain coming back. But she thinks it was because she got behind on getting her medications (the steroids and pain medicine). Mainly, she's glad to leave so she can get a good night's sleep. She says its hard to sleep when they keep coming in and checking on her! I will have more this afternoon.....

She will be at my grandparents' house in Smyrna. The number there is: 770-435-7216. Mom's cell phone is 404-895-8144 if you would like to call her. Also, feel free to leave comments or email this to whomever to keep them updated. Those links are below.

Thanks again~

Lindsey

September 17th

Hi everyone! I've decided to keep a blog of mom's progress so everyone can be up to date and I don't have to make so many phone calls!!!!!

Mom had her brain biopsy on Friday morning. Dr. Steuer said that they don't know exactly what it is we're dealing with and they have sent it out for pathology. But he thinks it is more than likely some type of cancer. We should have those results back on Tuesday. Depending on what they get back on Tuesday, if they still don't know, then my aunt Pat is going to fly over to Houston and take her pathology slides and MRI's over to MD Anderson, which is the best Cancer Center in the nation. They would be more likely to know what exactly it is and can give a better diagnosis.

As far as operation recovery, she is doing very well. She is a little upset at the amount of shaving they had to do! They did take her dressing off today and now she has the incision uncovered. She's looking better everyday. She is also responding well to the steroids and pain medicine and we finally have her pain under control. It looks to me like the steroids have also given her a little bit more facial movement on the left side (the tumor is resting on her trigeminal nerve, effecting her face and causing facial paralysis/numbness and pain).

Dr. Steuer said that she can go home today, but she wants to stay one more night in the hospital. From there, she will probably go home with my grandparents and stay with them. Her stitches will come out Monday, Sept. 25th and her radiation will also begin then.

She's at Northside Hospital in room 449 and if you want to give her a call, the number is 404-459-1449... that's the direct number to the room.

Please continue to pray for her. Thanks for all your kind thoughts.


~Lindsey