Shannon woke up hungry today so she took her Decadron, Zofran, and Bactrim and chowed down her breakfast. It didn't stay down for long. After consulting with Dr. Wetmore, we re-took the steroid and anti-nausea and Shannon was cautious with food choices and movements for the rest of the day.
Shannon slept a little less today and even managed to play a card game with Erin, Grandma, and Papa this afternoon while Dan and I went for a walk. She followed along with texts from one of the hockey mom's at today's Rebels game. (Just to update you all, the Rebels suffered their first loss of the season yesterday, but bounced back with a victory today.) The highlight of Shannon's day was a FaceTime call from some of her friends, the Olsons and Langs, from back home.
Shannon continues to be unsteady on her feet as she struggles with numbness down her right side. Today she also has a ringing in her ears that she tells us is "really annoying". These symptoms could be caused by dead cells that are vacating the tumor and touching nerves. It's pretty tight quarters inside the brain stem. That's what we're hoping it is. That's the positive spin I'm going with until I learn otherwise. I'm not ready to accept the alternative.
Today we did what we usually do on Sundays - watched a lot of NFL football. We coerced Erin into doing some homework today and got her caught up on her assignments from last week. Shannon has been unable to do any work these past three days, so that's been a bummer for her.
We also offered Erin the chance to escape Memphis for a couple of days since we haven't been able to get out and do things like we had hoped. Grandma and Papa rented a car and they are going to spend the next week traveling around - maybe Nashville or the Smoky Mountains - and they offered to take Erin with them. But, given the option, Erin wants to stay here. She wants to be with us. She wants us to stay together. Erin was in tears tonight after seeing her sister get sick again.
Tonight's episode of nausea came shortly after taking the Bactrim again, so now we are supposing that the Bactrim is not sitting right with Shannon and her new cocktail of medicines. Hard to reconcile that these drugs that are hopefully helping can make her so sick. While we had planned to have a couple of days away from St. Jude, we will head in tomorrow for a consult with Dr. Wetmore.
I would be lying if I said this wasn't hard. It is. Hard for us to be away from home. Hard to be missing our friends. Hard to be missing the pre-Christmas craziness that I always put myself through. Hard to be missing Rebels games. Hard to see Shannon sick. Hard to see Erin sad. Hard to admit that Shannon may never be healthy enough again to enjoy the things she once did...
But, as the 10 year old said, we should stay together. And for now, we will keep fighting.
