I haven’t updated you all on Louise in a bit. I have been waiting to bring you some good news that she is having an upturn, but that news has not come. We are still waiting, and hoping that there will be one soon. Gail has been in town now for about a week. She has done some muscle assessments on Louise and observed her. She felt she needed to contact the oncologist because of the weakness Louise seems to have. They discussed the medicines and the signs and symptoms we are seeing. The doctor upped the steroids and told Gail to call her back if she didn’t see an improvement over the weekend. We have not seen any. Louise seems to have some good moments, but they are mixed up with more difficult ones. She is tired to the point she wants to sleep a lot of the time. She is not getting out much, only for meals here and there, and she doesn’t seem to want to do much of anything. You all know how unlike her this is. Sometimes she can follow a conversation and contribute quite well, then a few minutes later she seems not to be paying attention and in her own little world, or she falls asleep sitting up. Gail said that her right leg has very little strength, which would explain why she has started falling more often. So far she hasn’t gotten hurt more than a bruise or two, but it is alarming to find her in the floor unable to get up.
As you can imagine this is not what we had hoped for. We are all concerned at her rapid decline. It seems to us that since the radiation she has gone down more quickly, rather than the respite we were supposed to see. The doctor says what Gail is describing to her on the phone sounds like tumor progression. That is a blow to us, because the radiation was supposed to give us more time, not take time from us. The doctor wants to do another scan tomorrow, and then see Louise on Wednesday. Gail has extended her stay a few days so she can be here for these two appointments. We desire to know what is happening and if the timeline is shorter than we originally thought. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We are all hanging in there and holding onto our hope that things are not as they appear to be. I will update you after the appointment.