Mom has not been feeling well and therefore not updating her blog for a while. Tonight, she asked me to write her blog to provide an update and requesting for prayers.
Since her last blog, there has been many changes in her condition. Many things to give thanks but also many things to pray for.
May 18th
Her doctor has accidentally scheduled an ultrasound for her a week ahead of schedule. Normally an ultrasound is scheduled after the 6th chemo treatment to confirm the size of the tumor. For some reason, her doctor was confused and scheduled it at the 5th week instead. The ultrasound results were very encouraging - her tumors in the lymph nodes have gone completely, and her tumor in her breast has reduced from 2.4cm to 0.9cm. This was after 5 weeks of treatment. Mom was over joyed with such result and asked the doctor if she can terminate her chemotherapy early. Her doctor suggested to continue for 3 more weeks, but due to her heart condition, the head of the department allowed her to stop the chemotherapy completely. Mom said: "I can not find right words to express my thankfulness to Lord." Mom made a decision to end the chemotherapy. Praise the Lord for he is amazing, not only did the tumor reduced in size dramatically, but also letting mom know by "scheduling" an early ultrasound.
May 21st
Mom was experiencing rapid heart rate and dizziness. Whenever she gets up or walk around, her heart would race and she will be light headed and nausea. At times, her heart rate was around 180. Dad took her to the ER around 5 and she was diagnosed with SVT - Supra-ventricular Tachycardia. This is likely to be caused by the chemotherapy medications. At a point, the ER doctor decided to give her medications to stop the heart completely and then restart it using defibrillator. This was a risky procedure. By God's grace, Mom's heart rate slowed down right before the medication and blood test came back indicating she was low in Magnesium. After injecting Magnesium and another medication to lower her heart rate, she was discharged to go home. Once again, God's timing was just perfect to avoid unnecessary and dangerous treatment.
May 23rd
Mom was again experiencing the same rapid heart rate and dizziness. Except this time the dizziness was more severe and she can barely get out of bed. We brought her to ER again. This time, they gave her a different medication to slow down her heart rate and admitted her to the hospital for monitoring. Since then, Mom has been in the hospital. Her heart rate is around 80's with the help of medications. However, it still fluctuates between 50's to 150's once in a while, making her uncomfortable.
May 26th (today)
Today, Mom is doing about the same as yesterday. As I called Dad in the afternoon, they were ready to be discharged and go home at 3pm. At 1pm, Mom's heart rate dipped to about 38 for a moment and went back up to the 70's right after. Because of that, Dr has decided medications alone is not enough to stabilize her heart rate within a desire range. They have decided to implant a pacemaker for her tomorrow.
Surgeries are targeted at noon during lunch, and there will be two surgeries:
#1 - to remove the port used during Chemotherapy for it is no longer needed.
#2 - at the same location, implant a single chamber pacemaker to facilitate her heart when rates drop below average.
Tonight, they have removed the new medication which was introduced yesterday for it might lower the heart rate during her sleep. For that, Mom's heart rate has gone back up a bit and she's not too comfortable.
Please continue to uphold Mom in your prayers. First of all, praise God for all his protection and timing. As time progress, we can see God's hand guiding her in every single event. His timing is perfect. Please pray that Mom and Dad has a good night sleep tonight at the hospital and are well rested up for the surgery. Please pray for the availability of a time and medical team to perform the surgery since it was only decided promptly today. At the time of surgery, pray that everything is smooth and go according to plan. Please also pray for a quick healing of her wounds and a fast recovery.
Please continue to pray for her cancer condition. If God is willing, Mom would like to avoid cancer surgery completely if future ultrasound shows shrinkage even without chemotherapy.
In Him,
Ernest
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