Momdate January 3, 2005

For those who have only recently discovered and/or dropped by Murmur's I have been doing periodic updates concerning my mother who was diagnosed with cancer for the third time in September of '04. Her first two battles with the big C involved breast cancer. Her most recent diagnosis was one of bone cancer. In short the cancer has spread through out a large percentage of her bone structure but fortunately at this time does not appear to have spread beyond. With the large influx of cancer cells there was no specific chemo that would help her. Her treatment so far has involved injections of hormones and a drug designed to halt the spread of the disease.

Beginning this week she will be undergoing roughly twenty days of radiation treatment. The primary goal of the radiologist is to reduce the amount of pain she is in due to the bone decay in her lower back. The doctor's are hoping for up a 70% reduction of pain within the lower back.

Less pain would be a godsend for her. My mom has always been a very active woman and she has reluctantly begun to curtail her activities due to the pain and the high level of pain medication she is on. Any reduction in the level of her pain will greatly increase the quality of her life, which at this time is the most important goal.