Rochester

Ma and Sylvia are back in Rochester tonight. Ma has appointments tomorrow, with the first one being at 7 a.m. They thought it best to drive over this evening and get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow could be a long day.

There are blood tests, an evaluation with the Dr. Hartman, and a chemo may be happening. I say "may be happening" because the go ahead on the chemo treatment depends on (1) if all of the blood indicators look okay, and (2) if Dr. Hartman considers the risks of chemo (e.g. infections) to be less than the benefits (mitigating the cancer).

John drove to Rochester as well today and will meet up with Ma and Sylvia for the appointments tomorrow. And he brought along my brother Carl, who hasn't been able to visit with Ma in Minnesota, until now.

UPDATE: Mom did have chemo treatment, though at a lower dosage. If you are a regular reader here, you know that chemo treatments depress immune systems. So the doctors ordered a lower dosage in hopes of not damaging her immune system so much that she is unable to fight off any type of infection. We do not want another hospitalization like at Thanksgiving, but the doctors did say that another infection while she is undergoing chemo treatment is not unlikely. This is why we have to be very careful to avoid any situations whatsoever that put her at risk of infection.