It is amazing the difference good pain control makes. Mom is now on a steroid and made an amazing transition. She went from being in unbearable pain to being able to move around a lot more steady on her feet and with a lot more energy. It is like she is suddenly a different person – or at least the person she was the last time I visited her. It is so nice to see her back to herself again.

The unfortunate aspect of this is that it is yet another sign that the cancer is in her bones – she also had hypercalcemia (too much calcium in her blood), which is also a sign of bone mets. We know the cancer is in her kidney and lungs, so being in the bones is not a huge surprise. The pain doctor said she would write a letter to the oncologist, which should help us get to the testing for bone mets sooner rather than later. I will follow up on that with the oncologist on Monday.

One of the things that was recommended was that we get a transport chair – a lightweight wheel chair that has small wheels. The transport chair allows whoever is bringing mom to push her in a wheelchair rather than mom using the walker. It also makes it a lot easier for mom to get in and out of the car. So we are very happy for it. She even went shopping yesterday with her sister – and between the transport chair and the electric carts at the larger stores they were able to do a bunch of shopping / chores. The transport chair will make it a lot easier to get to/from doctors appointments.