Sunday, July 16, 2006
The Road To Recovery From The Valley Of Chemo
If you would like to be notified as news on Lorinda is posted, please send an Email to lorindastewartupdate@yahoo.com.
It has been just over a month since the last update. Lorinda went back down to Tijuana for the radiation treatment to the spot on her lung. It wasn’t as agonizing this time because it did not involve the digestive track. Dr. Vargas is also using very low dosages of the chemotherapy drug, Interferon, to treat her. After the treatment she experiences severe flu-like symptoms with a severe headache for several hours. She is now back home and is taking Interferon by tablet 2 days a week for 1 month. She says after she takes the pill she can just count on going off to be sick for about 5 hours.
Due to all of the trauma and severity of the treatments last time, Lorinda lost a lot of weight. She was down to 93 pounds at one point and it was a bit scary. When Dr. Vargas saw how much weight she had lost, he gave her a few shots of steroids and put her on a very high calorie diet of bland food to help her gain weight quickly. He is encouraging her to eat lots of bread and pasta right now saying that it is more important for her to maintain a healthy weight than to be overly careful about what she is eating. Now that her digestive track has healed a little bit and she can keep food down, we are very proud to say she has been able to get her weight back up to 106 lbs.
We have written before about Lorinda’s constant battle with pain that has apparently been due to the inflammation of her liver. She found out about a product called “Ferguson Oil” which, when applied, is said to penetrate the skin and reduce inflammation like this. She has been using it regularly for the last few weeks and she says it has really helped. Her pain is reduced to a dull ache from the sharp, writhing agony she was dealing with before. Though she tried not to complain much, it was very difficult for her to concentrate on anything else when that was going on.
Now, in regard to shorty pants: Though Lorinda has been robbed of much of her early motherhood experience, she is very proud of Mr. Thomas. She is also very grateful to family members, especially her Aunt Deana, for all the help she has received in taking care of the baby. Thomas is finally off the oxygen tube now for over 2 weeks. Even though he was born very premature, he is now 16 pounds and very healthy. Lorinda says he sleeps wonderfully though the night (and a lot of the day) and hardly ever cries (unless, of course, there is an important message to be delivered).
As always, we’d like to conclude this update with a sincere “thank you” from her family to all of you who have kept Lorinda in your prayers and those of you who are making financial contributions to the medical benefit fund. It certainly seems like she has hit the bottom and is on the way up now. We will keep you posted as to her progress.
It has been just over a month since the last update. Lorinda went back down to Tijuana for the radiation treatment to the spot on her lung. It wasn’t as agonizing this time because it did not involve the digestive track. Dr. Vargas is also using very low dosages of the chemotherapy drug, Interferon, to treat her. After the treatment she experiences severe flu-like symptoms with a severe headache for several hours. She is now back home and is taking Interferon by tablet 2 days a week for 1 month. She says after she takes the pill she can just count on going off to be sick for about 5 hours.
Due to all of the trauma and severity of the treatments last time, Lorinda lost a lot of weight. She was down to 93 pounds at one point and it was a bit scary. When Dr. Vargas saw how much weight she had lost, he gave her a few shots of steroids and put her on a very high calorie diet of bland food to help her gain weight quickly. He is encouraging her to eat lots of bread and pasta right now saying that it is more important for her to maintain a healthy weight than to be overly careful about what she is eating. Now that her digestive track has healed a little bit and she can keep food down, we are very proud to say she has been able to get her weight back up to 106 lbs.
We have written before about Lorinda’s constant battle with pain that has apparently been due to the inflammation of her liver. She found out about a product called “Ferguson Oil” which, when applied, is said to penetrate the skin and reduce inflammation like this. She has been using it regularly for the last few weeks and she says it has really helped. Her pain is reduced to a dull ache from the sharp, writhing agony she was dealing with before. Though she tried not to complain much, it was very difficult for her to concentrate on anything else when that was going on.
Now, in regard to shorty pants: Though Lorinda has been robbed of much of her early motherhood experience, she is very proud of Mr. Thomas. She is also very grateful to family members, especially her Aunt Deana, for all the help she has received in taking care of the baby. Thomas is finally off the oxygen tube now for over 2 weeks. Even though he was born very premature, he is now 16 pounds and very healthy. Lorinda says he sleeps wonderfully though the night (and a lot of the day) and hardly ever cries (unless, of course, there is an important message to be delivered).
As always, we’d like to conclude this update with a sincere “thank you” from her family to all of you who have kept Lorinda in your prayers and those of you who are making financial contributions to the medical benefit fund. It certainly seems like she has hit the bottom and is on the way up now. We will keep you posted as to her progress.
