No news is good news!

It has been a few days since we've put out any update and that's because Mom is doing well! She is still in the hospital, but in a regular room and is just resting trying to regain her strength. My Aunt Noreen flew in from Florida this weekend and got to spend a lot of time with Mom. This was a HUGE help to both me and Dad who were able to get a lot of rest this weekend! I am feeling almost totally better. Dad is still sick, but is slowly improving. Mom is getting stronger each day. She has to walk with a walker, but she is very independent and continues to try to do things on her own (even when she knows she shouldn't!) She is still coughing a lot, but the doctors say that her chest is clear of all of the pulmonary edema which is great. I will be heading over to see her tonight, but she is extremely hoarse so the idea will be to go and watch TV together or something as opposed to going to chit-chat. It seems that all she wants to do since she got the tube out is talk! We can't shut her up! We did get her to be quiet for 10 minutes when we told her she could call her friend Pennie in Ohio if she did't make any noise for 10 minutes. So we know she CAN be quiet :-)

From what I've heard, she should be getting out of the hospital in the next few days. She will be going to a rehab facility for a week or so to help her gain strength back. Then after that, we'll begin treatments ASAP!

Thanks again for all of your love, prayers, and support. I know we couldn't have gotten through these past two weeks without it. And keep praying! Mom has a long road ahead of her, but has triumphed over this first big challenge beautifully :-)

Update from Bob

Maureen seems much improved today. She is talking actively, voice is less hoarse. She has significant weakness as expected. Hands are too week to pick up a large hospital cup of water, but she can handle a small styro cup, which she could not do yesterday. She definitely can't walk by herself and will need a short course of rehab for this-not unexpected after 6 days on a ventilator. Overall progess is good. There is always a risk of recurrent fluid in the chest cavity, or even a pneumothorax, but this has not happened so far.
I had a nice talk with the Oncologist here, Dr. Priego, and he discussed treatment options with me and was quite encouraging. Obviously we will also consult Dr. Hazra, in Ohio before making any final treatment decision(she is the one who treated both of us for cancer in the past), but we don't want to "let any grass grow" and we obviously will start an appropriate treatment as soon as Maureen can tolerate it.
Now that she is in a private room, friends and relatives can call her and talk to her here--room 6349, Suburban Hospital, Bethesda, Md. The main hospital number is 301-896-3100 and then ask for 6349.

Love to all our wonderful friends and relatives.

Bob S.

out of ICU!

This picture was sent from my cousin Joel who is climbing mountains in Iceland to raise money for breast cancer research. This was taken at the top of their first summit! I think it's pretty awesome and can't wait for Mom to see it last this evening!


Mom is out of ICU! She is back on the 6th floor - across the hall from her old room. 6349 (I think)....it's the last room on the left side of the ward in the corner. She would love any visitors!

I just spoke to Mom on the phone and spoke with her nurse. She is continuing to improve, but remains very very weak (understandably!). Her nurse today is named John and they are really getting along. I called to check on her and asked if he could tell her I had to go to the doctor which is why I wasn't there. He said hold on and brought the phone in to her! He said they don't normally do that, but because I was her daughter he thought it would be fun! I talked to her and she sounded good. Her voice is still very raspy and it takes a lot of energy for her to talk, but she sounds in good spirits as always. Anyone who is local and wants to visit, I'm sure she would love to see you! She is still in ICU and will remain there another day or too probably.

My friend Maggie sent me this picture and I think it's really cute. My cousin Joel is in Iceland right now climbing a mountain to raise money for breast cancer. He raises money through the organization Climb For Hope. http://www.climbforhope.com/ He has climbed several mountains and it's amazing to me that he was leaving to go raise money for breast cancer research. The money that he has been helping to raise over the past few years has been going to help find new treatments, some of which might be used to help my mom!

She does know now that her cancer is back. She took it very well and she is ready to fight it. We told her that the scans showed no big masses in any major organs and of course she was happy to hear that!

When I left the hospital, she was in really good spirits and comfortable. They had given her some cough medicine and pain medicine so hopefully she would fall asleep soon. My dad was with her when I left. He is doing much better now that he is on meds. We are both trying to rest as much as possible to get over this asap.

Thanks again for all your love

-Sara

Susan and I are here at the hospital with Mom --- she is resting right now with a smile on her face. She really looks good and happy to be off of the tube! Hopefully she can get some rest and get her strength back up :-)

Thank you to everyone for your love and support. This has been a long week and I cannot explain how helpful the prayers, phone calls, emails, and visits have been!

-Sara

Excellent news today!!!

We had an emotionally tough day yesterday--Maureen was tried with the ventilator off but the endotracheal tube still in--she needed to tolerated this for 2 hours in order to lose the tube. She only made it for 5 minutes. She was had a fever of unknown original, but finally she was started on antibiotics to "cover all bases". Each of our Pulmonologists, Dr Weiner and Dr Koriea, spoke to me for quite a long time and Dr Koreia said he would go in very early this morning to try to consult with the intensivist and try to make another attempt early today. He souned a little pessimistic to me at that time.
BUT-THE NURSE JUST CALLED ME AND THE TUBE IS OUT!!!!!!! She is breathing fine on just an oxygen mask and wants to see everybody as soon as possible. She will probably tire easily but for an Irish lass not to talk for 5-6 days must have been NOT FUN to say the least. I must say I was very pleasantly surprised with this call from the nurse. I am sure all of her friends and family are very anxious to hear her voice again. I am hoping that she won't remember most of this grueling trial. But I am certain that everyone that came to hold her hand and let her hear their voices, helped her get better faster.

I will leave this short, I am a little emotional right now.

Love to all of our wonderful friends and family

Bob Shalowitz

some good news!

I just spoke with the oncologist here at the hospital, Dr. Priego. He is really nice and answered all my questions. He also was very understanding when I asked that we go out into the hallway to talk about her cancer because we are trying to not talk "cancer-talk" in front her Mom. She knew going into the surgery that a reoccurence was a good possibility, but she hasn't been told yet. I think she probably knows, but it does no good for her to hear about it right now. I am a big believer that even if people seem to be asleep/sedated, they are still hearing you. It's important to talk TO her not just ABOUT her.

SO ANYWAYS, the good news is that they did scans and saw no cancer in the brain or anywhere else in her body. Granted, this doesn't mean it isn't lingering in small sizes like the small tumors in her pleural wall, but it is good that there are no large tumors in any major organs or anything.

Just wanted to share some good news!

Sorry that I didn't update for awhile. I thought Dad was going to and he thought I was going to! Yesterday was pretty rough, but she's doing better today. They did a breathing trial today, but they were unable to take her off the ventilator yet. They will try again tomorrow. She is no longer on the Fentinol IV drip and is not on the Ativan anymore, but is getting a Propofol drip to keep her comfortable and sedated. This type of sedation is better than the Ativan because it is short term, so they can bring her out of the sedated state fairly quickly.

Some encouraging things did happen today -- when I arrived, she wasn't really looking at anything but rather just gazing into space, but as she came further out of the sedation, she was able to track me with her eyes, respond to requests, communicate with eyeblinks, and squeezed my hand for the first time in almost 3 days. She also gave a little smile when I told her that I was going to go get some food in the cafeteria because "I don't eat enough these days" :-) She thought it was funny! Before her surgery, she said that she wanted to lose a little bit of weight and maybe this would be a good way to jump start it! I also said to her "You're going to get better, right?" and she blinked her eyes for "yes" and I also said, "You're gonna get out of this hospital, right?" and she said yes. It's amazing to me that even while frustrated, exhausted, and on a ventilator, she is still in good spirits.

She is still running a fever - last night it got up to 103. Right now she is back down to normal -- they have been giving her Tylenol and have a cooling blanket under her. The doctors have said that the Talc that they put in her pleural cavity during the surgery can cause a fever, but they are looking for other sources as well. They removed her central line and replaced all of her IVs. They have taken cultures to look for infections. They also did a full work up of cat scans yesterday - head, chest, abdomen, pelvis - all which came back normal. They were looking for any bleeding that they might have missed, but there was not any that they could see. Her chest tube is still in, but hardly any fluid is coming out. Hopefully they will be able to remove it soon.

Right now, she is back to just sleeping. She is coughing a little bit and is not really responding to us. My friend Susan drove up from Virginia Beach to stay with me for the night/tomorrow and is here with me in the hospital now. Mom is holding her Ireland bear that my aunt brought her. It fits really nicely in her hand and gives her something to hold on to when someone is not able to be here.

In addition to Mom being sick, my Dad has developed a mild case of pneumonia, so he can't come into her room. He is staying at my Gramma Florence's apartment trying to rest and get better. He started medicine yesterday. I am trying to stay healthy :-)

Thanks again to everyone who has offered their thoughts and prayers. She needs them! The doctors have said she WILL get off the ventilator and she WILL get out of the hospital -- we just have to be patient while she heals from this.

My cousin Anna Mae drove down from Baltimore to stay with me last night and we are here Mom's room writing this update. She had a small episode a little bit ago, but is stable now. She was fighting the ventilator so it wasn't able to push air in to help her breathe. The nurse was quick to respond and was able to stabilize her, but it was a little scary. Anna and I went into the waiting room while they worked on her and I can't describe how helpful she was. Amazing. Anyways, we talked to Uncle John on the phone who explained what happened and then after about 15 minutes we were able to come back in the room. She was back sleeping again.

Anna and I went to pick up my friend Katie from Ohio who flew in to stay with me for the weekend. Aunt Debbie and Shira stayed with her while we were gone and the doc gave her a breathing treatment to help with her asthma. They believe that her asthma may be one of the reasons she is coughing so much and the reason for her episode earlier.

Katie and I are here in the room now. We got to talk with her day nurse for awhile who was very helpful. Mom was again trying to get out of bed, but finally we thought to just ask if she was in pain (since she is no longer on the IV drip, but rather is getting pain medicine as needed) and she nodded yes. This was encouraging to me because she has not been very responsive today or yesterday evening. Her nurse gave her meds and she is now much much calmer. I asked her to close her eyes if she wanted her rag over her eyes and she did. Just to be sure, we asked her to open them and she did that too. So she is now resting in classic Momma Shal form -- out cold with a wet rag over her eyes :-)

Mom has gotten a little more responsive which is good...she nodded her head a little bit and also we were communicating via eyeblinks. She is still running a 100.6-ish fever, but the nurse tonight, Laura, has been very attentive and they took some samples to make sure she doesn't have any sort of infection. The Intensivist thinks that the fever is due to the fact that she had the surgery two days ago and her body is reacting to the talc that they put in to seal her pleural cavity. But just to be safe, they are running the tests.

Just wanted to post some better news -- she's still sleeping, but is responding when I ask her questions :-)

It's funny how life works out -- I find myself feeling very blessed to have grown up in a family where my grandfather was in a wheelchair and attached to various tubes at times as well as having a grandmother who has alzheimers -- I never understood how those would be something to be thankful for, but it has helped me be very comfortable helping Mom while she's in this state. I have no problem helping the nurses move her and am comfortable when situations get seemingly a little scary and am able to help Mom stay calm when she has her coughing spells or gets scared. Also, because Poppop Johnny had the chair, a catheter, and wasn't able to move - the fact that Mom is laid up in bed with lots of IVs and such does not completely overwhelm and freak me out. So in a really strange way, I feel so lucky to have grown up with those experiences. Also, I feel lucky to have grown up in a medical household where I learned to understand that there are reasons for things to happen, but that those reasons may take awhile to figure out and resolve.

I guess what I'm saying is that this has all been a reminder for me that many times we don't understand why things happen or why they are the way they are, but sometimes later something positive comes of it. I'm still waiting to see why Mom is so sick, but hopefully in time we will see...

Mom is a little more uncomfortable than she has been, but the nurse is countering that with a little more medicine to help her relax. She is obviously sick of being in the bed and hooked up to all the tubes -- all she seems to want to do is get up and walk around. She was running a fever earlier, but with the combo of Tylenol and a wet washcloth, it is down a little bit. I've been rewetting the washcloth often and right now its over her eyes and forehead...just the way she likes it. My dad and I always joke that we can tell when she's not feeling well --he'll say, "Well she's got the washcloth over her eyes!" So hopefully this is soothing her. She had a lot of interaction earlier today with sisters and other family which I think tired her out. She's not really responding to me tonight when I ask her questions, but she is also on a lot of meds. Dad will be in soon and hopefully will have more medical info. I don't know all the right questions to ask the doctors and nurses. :-/ But we're trying to keep her comfortable and right now she's sleeping with her washcloth on her eyes and her boxing gloves on. We'll have to wait and see what the rest of the night brings.

Here is a picture of Mom's boxing glove :-)

We have had a lot of visitors today -- Aunt Anna, Mom's sisters Eileen and Kathleen, my Dad's sister Debbie, and my cousin Susan - all in different shifts. It has been great - and a nice relief on us!

Right now, she is sleeping (my gramma asked me, isn't she always sleeping because of the sedative? Yes, but she is comfortable and not adjitated right now...so what I say "sleeping" -- that is what I mean. Peaceful and resting.) She is running a low fever, but they are monitoring it. She got a little bath today which she really liked. Her nurse Priscilla is joking with her and trying to keep her in good spirits throughout today.

That's all for now folks!

Boxing gloves

So Mom tried to get out bed this morning! Obviously, when she is on a respirator and attached to several IV lines, this is not something she should be doing! But it did remind me how much of a fighter she is. They put on hand coverings that look like boxing gloves but are just big pillows on her hands. This stops her from grabbing the sides of her bed and trying to pull herself up. She is a little frustrated with them, but it is better than having restraints on her arms holding them down.

I spoke with her doctor, who is an Intensivist, Dr. Saurmiento, a little bit ago. He is a 20 year Air Force vet and is a very compassionate man. We (dad and I) see eye to eye with him and we're all on the same page. He said that she is improving and that he is very happy with her progress. As we know, they are not going to rush to extubate her. The doc is now saying tomorrow or Sunday to take her off the vent. Even though she is still on it, they have lowered the oxygen level that is being pushed through, which means that Mom is doing more of the work. She is down to 40% O2 and her PEEP is down to 5.

She is still communicating and in good spirits. She noticed the picture of her grandson Brenndan that I put up in her room this morning...she was staring at it and I asked if she wanted me to bring it over to her. She nodded yes, and so I brought Bren's football picture over to her. In the picture, he is wearing a pink cast on his wrist (pink is his favorite color in support of his mother, and now grandmother, in their fights with breast cancer). After looking at this picture, she was able to relax and fall back asleep :-)

My Aunt Eileen is in with her right now and I'm going to go get some food with a friend. Things are looking up today. Keep sending the positive thoughts and prayers Momma Shal's way!

I decided to follow some advice from a very good friend and I came home to my house to get some sleep. I told Momma Shal that I was really tired and needed to get sleep so that'd I could come back tomorrow. She nodded her head "yes" and squeezed my hand letting me know it was ok for me to leave. Dad was there when I left, but he was going to head back to Gramma Florence's apartment to try to get some sleep as well. She was doing well when I left...calm and resting. I'll be back there tomorrow and hopefully we'll have better news to report tomorrow!

Thanks for all the kind messages and support -- it is great

Update from Bob

Sara and I are here together and we just met her night nurse, Connie. Maureen is stable at this time. The intensivist, Pulmonologist, and Chest surgeon all talked to me today, and they all said that the current need for the respirator and ICU are not unexpected. They are hoping to be able to get her off of the respirator tomorrow but this is not guaranteed. If the tube is taken out too soon and needs to be put back in, that would be a serious problem and could be technically very difficult. She has occasional anxiety, as expected, but ativan works very well to calm her.
I talked to Dr Hazra, the oncologist in Ohio who treated both Maureen and I for cancer, and she says that there are many good treatments available now, that were not available 10 years ago, and that various tests will be done to select the ideal treatment to hopefully get the best result.---Of course the first job is to get her through this surgery. Luckily she has an Irish temper--many of you don't know about this but I certainly do, as she usually saves it for me--- and she is not going to sit still for this. She has a lot to live for including but not limited to children, grandchild, nieces, nephews, cousins, siblings--so she is going to do whatever is necessary to fight and defeat this very challenging problem.
Thanks for all the support from our wonderful relatives and friends.

Bob Shalowitz

Dad and I are sitting in Mom's ICU room right now as she is resting. She had a relatively good night and has been sedated for most of the day. They are continuing to give her adavan to keep her calm and basically asleep. She is still on the ventilator, but they hope to extubate her tomorrow. When she has been awake, she is in good spirits as always. She was trying to talk - but because of the ventilator was getting frustrated. We gave her a pen and paper and she was able to tell her pulmonologist that she is feeling "better." She was also frustrated with me that I was drinking water in front of her since she's not allowed to drink! As I am writing this, she is sleeping peacefully and looks comfortable (as possible!).

We have begun to takeover the ICU unit...our room is right across from the nurses station and the nurse said it was ok for us to put her flowers out on the counter so she can see them out her door/windows when she is awake. We can't keep them in to the room, but we are decorating the ICU nurses station very well!!

Dad is gonna take a break and Aunt Debbie is coming to stay with me and mom for a little while. He's going to write more tonight to update.

I just got home from the hospital and mom is finally sleeping soundly. She is still in the ICU and still on the ventilator, but these are both good things because it means she has more doctors and nurses paying attention to her and she is able to breathe easier. Her nurse is fantastic, her name is Kelly (and I think that she is irish!!). They did a test to see how she would breathe on her own, which she was able to do, but because of the pulmonary edema, she is coughing a lot. The doctor decided to keep her on the ventilator tonight and see how she is in the morning. She is sedated and resting. When I was with her, she was in natural Momma Shal good spirits -- even made a joke by rolling her eyes at one point! She was responsive and squeezing my hand in response to questions I asked her. I came home after they gave her a dose of Adavan and she was finally asleep.

Although it may not seem like it, things are looking up...the nurse Kelly and the ICU doc both said that she is doing well and getting better...she is calm and understands what is going on -- helps that she's a nurse!!

Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers...I'll update tomorrow evening after I see her (hopefully extubated and out of the ICU!)

Post-Op Update

This is Jennifer Howard (a friend of the Shalowitz family) writing on Sara's request. As most of you probably read in Sara's earlier post, her mother went into surgery this afternoon as planned. Unfortunately, as suspected, it appears that the same type of cancer, lobular carcinoma, has returned. Fortunately, the cancer did not appear to be in or on the lung, but rather around it, in the pleural cavity (which surrounds the lung). The physician observed little pieces...so it's uncertain now as to what the treatment will be. As expected, a chest tube was inserted into the pleural cavity to drain the fluid that's accumulating on her lungs. This tube will likely remain intact for the next several days.

The physician found evidence of pulmonary edema during the operation, and Sara's mother needed to be intubated...which was unexpected. She is currently in the intensive care unit and will be sedated throughout the evening. The doctor hopes to extubate her in the morning.

Dr. Shalowitz, Sara's Dad, has been in contact with their local oncologist to apprise her of the situation. It seems certain that there will be treatment needed in the near future.

As there's often a silver lining to cling to with any bad news, Sara was relieved that the doctor didn't see an obvious or inoperable tumor when they explored through surgery today. While they didn't get good news either, she feels it could have been much worse.

Please hold this family close to your hearts tonight, as they struggle together. I know that Sara is hopeful that her mother rests peacefully tonight and is able to be extubated tomorrow morning, as planned. It will undoubtedly be a long night for the Shalowitz family.

I am certain that Sara will be in touch soon with any new updates. I know the family is thankful for the love and support from their friends and family.

Where we are at...

I've been able to talk to some of you, but rather than updating each person individually, I'm giving in and resorting to blogging. As most of you know, my mom is sick -- they are working on trying to figure out the cause right now, but she is currently in the hospital in Bethesda, MD. She was admitted to the hospital with a significant amount of fluid on her lungs(about 3 liters), but they don't know exactly what's causing it. On Saturday night, she had to go to the ER in Berlin, Maryland (near Ocean City) and then they released her to be transported to DC to get to a bigger hospital that could better handle her case. She saw the doctors on Monday and they admitted her to the hospital here. We are very lucky -- my grandmother's friend Arnold has a son in law who is a cardiologist in Bethesda -- he was able to get her seen by a very good pulmonologist and they are moving quickly to find the cause of this. The doctor drained 1 liter of fluid from her lungs Monday, which allowed her to be able to breathe much better and talk. Today at 1pm, they are going in and draining another 2-3 liters. They are also going to do a procedure to seal the pleural cavity so that more fluid cannot reaccumulate there. They will use a camera to look around and also to take some biopsies. She'll have a chest tube for 3-4 days after that. The good thing is that since they were able to drain some of the fluid Monday, they were able to send it ahead to begin getting it tested to determine the cause of all of this. Also in our favor is that she did have a clear chest xray and clear blood cancer screening in the past few months.

I am trying to stay positive and not have any pain in advance. I never thought that I would hope for someone to have pneumonia, but that's where I'm at right now. It is very good that they were able to get her here to this hospital where they have every specialist that she may need.

I was able to spend some time with her last night at the hospital. She was in very good spirits and was feeling comfortable...she is very positive and is ready to take on whatever we come across. We don't any any answers yet, but they are narrowing....there is still a chance that there will be a different outcome, but right now we are trying to prepare for the very real possibility that her breast cancer has returned. I will see her tonight after the surgery and my dad and grandmother will be with her during the day along with one of her brothers.

I'm sorry to do this all over email/blogging...but she has a lot of people worried about her right now and this way I can make sure everyone gets the info they need. Some people have asked for her hospital info. She is currently in Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, MD. She can't really talk on the phone or have many visitors, but your thoughts and prayers do wonders. She will probably be in the hospital for 4 or 5 more days barring major complications.

Thanks for all the support....we truly appreciate it...I will update this blog as we learn more about what is going on.