8/3/18 Friday...

     Well, it's been an interesting 24 hours in Shoreline.  I don't know about Lake Wobegon...actually I do: it's always quiet there.  Around here, the biggest thing that has troubled Gabrielle has been her horrible mouth sores to the point where she burst into tears in the morning when she tried to eat a bite of a very soft scone saying it was too sharp on her mouth and that she couldn't live like this.  She then asked me to get her in to see her ENT, Dr. Lin.
     When I told Dr. Lin the story, she kindly agreed to see Gabrielle in the afternoon even though she wasn't scheduling patients that day as it was her surgery day.  This is a doctor who usually has a 2-3 week wait to get in, and we got an amazing same day appointment!  At the visit, Dr. Lin said that the mouth sores looked more bacterial than thrush-like and prescribed a different "Magic Mouthwash" that had numbing medicine, antibiotics and steroids in it.  She also started her on some antibiotic pills.  After the first dose of said Magic Mouthwash, she felt better.
     The most amazing thing was that by dinnertime, she wanted to try some soup that had been brought by.  She took one bite and then had a very content look on her face, as it didn't hurt as much to put food in her mouth.  A tear came to her eye and she said she had to stop eating, then put her hands together and thanked God that her mouth was improving and that she was able to get some food in.  She then proceeded to eat more food in one meal than I have seen her eat in three days!  Praise God for that!
     The other big change is that she has been almost back to her normal self, chatting away in conversations, following what we are saying.  This morning, she chided me for changing one of her passwords on an account.  I told her that I needed to see what was in it and then it prompted me to change.  I think she forgave me.  She is also getting upset when I try and help her do things.  She even may challenge me to Scrabble later today, who knows?
     Right now (Friday morning), she is at the UW meeting with the nurse practitioner and then hopefully some chemo, though that depends on her labs.  No, she didn't drive herself, but I suspect that she will be giving the kids instructions on which is the quickest route to take like she does when I drive.  It seems that perhaps the chemo has helped a little, as she doesn't complain of quite as much tummy pain and is more functional.  We are hoping that this trend continues.  In my mind, it is a HUGE answer to prayer, a much needed one.  
     So, thanks for your prayers, words of encouragement, and just being there for us to meet our needs.  It is a humbling thing to be surrounded by so much love.  I can't say that enough.
     And, in case you missed the video Daniel posted at the end of my most recent blog, you might find it interesting.  He took the pics when we were in Maui.  It was taken only two months ago.  When I saw how much her health had changed in that short period of time, it was quite dramatic: going from swimming laps, walking, snorkeling to sleeping much of the time, confusion, more pain, mouth sores.  Hopefully we've got better days ahead.  Oh, and if you do watch the video, ignore the crazy yahoo in the first 30 seconds.  Daniel accidentally stumbled onto the set of Baywatch Maui where they were in the midst of filming the opening scene and he mistakenly included it in our home movie.  

     Update:  I just got word from the kids:  her labs were not good enough to get chemo as her platelets were too low.  This is a big disappointment, but we'll try again next week.