A Draining Day

Mom had a draining day today - quite literally! Her tummy has grown large with ascites, the fluid from cancer. She had an uncomfortable night last night and ended up sleeping in her chair. So this morning she called the cancer clinic in London, and they called her back shortly and said, "Come right in!" Thankfully Mom was mostly ready to go, and Dad had stayed around waiting for the call.

By this afternoon,  the doctor had drained about 3 liters of fluid from her abdomen. The staff take an ultrasound of her abdomen to determine the spot to drain. The doctor then applies some freezing before inserting a needle in the right spot. They were pleased to get that amount of fluid. Last time Mom went to get drained, the fluid shifted between the ultrasound and the needle insertion, so they weren't able to drain much. We are thankful they were able to drain so much fluid today - it should relieve the pressure in her abdomen. One of the first times Mom had this procedure done a year or so ago, Dad asked her how she felt as they were driving home. She said, "I feel drained" and they burst out laughing. Mom's tired tonight, but hopefully she will soon feel much better.

Mom and Dad have been enjoying sitting outside in the evenings (the photo below was taken at family camping by Darlene of Jakal photography, but that's about how they look at home too!) One evening, they saw a bluebird, which is still quite rare in this area. Of course, Mom got a photo of it!

The bluebird

The view Mom and Dad have of their garden at home.

Mom loves taking photos of her birds and flowers. Recently, I made a photo book for Mom of the last several months. As I sorted through files of photos from different dates, the thing that made me laugh was that every single file has photos of flowers and birds in it. Doesn't matter if it's "Cohen's birthday" or "Bird Show." There are just flowers in every file! I like that about Mom. Here are some photos she took:

A grosbeak

A wren (rare!)

Mom even took this photo! Just kidding. I'm guessing Aunt Wilma did. Mom's Big Red hibiscus is blooming right now. Every year we take photos with it because the blossoms are about the size of a person's head.

Thanks for your ongoing prayers through this season!