Chemo Round 4

We had a very family-filled time this week.  On Thursday my brother Ricky, his wife Alison, and their kids Ethen, Eliana, Caleb, and Ricardo came to visit my mom (also known as "Boo" to all of her grandkids).  Here's a picture of my mom with Rick & Al's little ones:

After they left, my sisters Rocío and Lula came into town for a quick visit.  Lula brought her two little ones--Timothy and Maria.  Naturally, they love their Boo, too.

In between all this family bonding my mom had her fourth round of chemotherapy.  Her blood counts were still in the target ranges so we were able to proceed with treatment.  Her platelets and WBCs are  looking good, but her hemoglobin counts were a little on the low side.  The tumor marker test (CA-19.9) continues to make it's way towards normal.  All in all, everything seems to be right on track.

My mom continues to stay strong in spirit and in body.  While she has experienced some of the normal chemo side effects one would expect, she really hasn't had too terrible of a time with the treatment.  I know much of her strength comes from her killer attitude and a consistently bright outlook.  Another source of strength has come out of the love showered on her daily by friends and family.  She has been the recipient of many cards, gifts, meals, visits and prayers these past few weeks.  Thank you!

We had to share two things in particular that my mom enjoyed during her last hospital stay.  In this picture my mom is wearing her snazzy, new hospital gown from Feel Good Gowns.  It was generously given to her by Buddy & Mary Peoples.  This gown is much nicer that the generic ones they give you at the hospital and they even got it in purple, the color for pancreatic cancer awareness.  Thanks, Buddy & Mary!

You'll notice my mom is also wearing a lovely red shawl.  This is her "prayer shawl" made especially for her by Wendy from St. Ambrose church.  Can you believe the entire time she was knitting this shawl she was also praying for my mom?  Wow.  Thanks, Wendy!

Chemo Round 3

Look!  Mimi has another team rooting for her in Puerto Rico.  Their shirts say Team Fragosa Corcino and they loooove my mom.  ¡Gracias a todo la familia en Puerto Rico que están enviando su amor a Mimi!  Besos y abrazos a ustedes tambien.

In other news, we want to thank everyone for all the prayers and positive thoughts.  They really do work!  My mom was very diligent last week about staying away from crowds and resting.  We were happy to learn that on Monday when we went in for the usual labs and chemo check-in her blood work was excellent!  Her white blood cells and platelets went way up and were back in the normal range.  Phew.  Even her CA 19-9 (the tumor marker test) has decreased by about 30% just this week alone.  This is all great news.  Praise God!

So on Monday my mom was admitted for her third round of chemotherapy and (as usual) she was fantastic.  She even took time out to say a quick hello to all her friends and family out there.  Enjoy!

• 
  Prayer Requests/Praises:

• Continued stability of platelets and white blood cells.
• Continued good health (i.e. no coughs, colds, fevers, etc.).
• Major tumor shrinkage!  We won't see a CT scan for another 2-4 weeks, but we are hoping for the tumor to shrink and disappear.  It would be super amazing if we could skip surgery altogether!
• Our friend, Buddy Peoples, is improving daily.  Please continue to keep him in your thoughts and prayers.  We know there's plenty of that good stuff to go around.

Again, thank you ALL for the love and support.  It may sound redundant, but we mean it.  You make it possible to deal.  xoxo