Tag: Healthcare

Resetting The Year

Wendy K.Leave a comment

Tuesday, February 17, 2006 was Lunar New Year! Honestly, January 2026 started off so stressful that I was glad for a redo! I’m officially counting Lunar New Year as the start of our 2026, bidding farewell to all the negative experiences and welcoming positive energy and good vibes!

Year of the Horse

On Lunar New Year’s Eve and Lunar New Year’s Day, I made sure to wear red, down to my shoes! Red symbolizes “good fortune, happiness, vitality, and the warding off of evil spirits”.

My mom and I decorated the house with pops of red Sunday night and we hosted New Year’s Eve dinner on Monday. It was good to see my mom excited to celebrate. I outsourced about 80% of our dinner, and it was the best decision!

My mom really wanted to cook the dishes herself but I told her it would be easier if we just bought prepared food. We drove to Chinatown the Saturday before and purchased duck, chicken, bbq pork, roast pork, dumplings, sticky rice, steamed buns, shumai, & sticky rice cake.

On Monday, I left work early so I could get home to heat up all our prepared food and cook a few additional dishes (rice noodles, cauliflower, & broccoli).

My mom came into the kitchen to help but after a little bit, she said she was tired and wanted to take a nap. She ate 2 shumai dumplings before going to her room and that ended up being the only thing she ate the rest of the evening. This made me sad but I was happy that she had the energy to be physically present with us the entire evening even if she didn’t eat. She did enjoy the food as leftovers the rest of the week.

Today, my mom had an appointment with her oncologist. He shared the good news that her CA-125 level was now at 44 (down from over 200). This means that she does appear to be responsive to the treatment so she will continue moving forward with her original treatment plan. Her fifth treatment is tomorrow and if all goes well, the sixth and final treatment should occur on March 13th! She will still have maintenance every 3 weeks to suppress new cancer growth but it will not be chemotherapy and it should be easier on her body.

Obviously a lot can happen between chemo infusion treatments, but we are going to celebrate the positive news and continue to take it one day at a time.

I may consider wearing red every single day this year, ha!

Side story: In Chinatown, some establishments are CASH ONLY. This past Saturday, I forgot to bring cash with me. I had some cash but definitely not enough to pay for my entire order. This amazing person noticed me panicking after I placed my order. He offered to give me cash in exchange for Zelle. I had no cell service so I had to call Jon and ask him to Zelle money to this stranger. This dude straight up gave me $200 cash and was not even concerned about me not being able to show him proof that the Zelle had been sent. Yes, I could have gone to the bank or cancelled the order but thanks to a nice stranger, I didn’t have to. So Alex, thank you for easing my day! I’m so grateful for your kindness!

False Alarm

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In my last post, I recommended using a continuous glucose monitor, and then hours later, we experienced our first false alarm, meh!

Right around 1:30am this morning, the first alarm wakes me up and warns that my mom’s blood sugar is low. I bring her a peanut butter sandwich. She tells me that she had just finished snacking on a cookie and her blood sugar was in the 100s a few seconds ago. She eats half of the sandwich anyway and drinks some Glucerna.

A few minutes later the Libre app adjusts and corrects her glucose numbers.

I asked ChatGPT about it and this is what it said…

1. It measures interstitial fluid, not blood

The sensor reads glucose in the fluid between cells, which lags behind blood glucose by ~5–15 minutes.

If glucose is rising or falling quickly, you can see brief dips or spikes that don’t last. The algorithm may briefly interpret a downward trend, then correct itself.

This is the #1 reason for quick flip-flops.

2. Compression lows (very common)

If pressure is on the sensor—like:

Lying on it Leaning against a chair or armrest Tight clothing or a BP cuff

Blood flow around the sensor drops → the reading can suddenly look low, then pop back up once pressure is relieved.

3. Algorithm smoothing & recalculation

Libre 3 Plus updates every minute, but it also:

Uses recent readings to predict trends Recalculates when new data comes in

So you might see:

Minute 1: “Hmm, looks low” Minute 2: “Okay, nope—false alarm”

Especially common when glucose is hovering near a threshold.

4. Sensor settling or aging

First 24 hours after applying a new sensor = more noise Last day or two before expiration can also be jumpy

This doesn’t mean it’s broken—just less stable.

5. Hydration & circulation

Dehydration, poor circulation, or illness (very relevant during chemo, infections, or hospital stays) can make readings fluctuate more than usual.

Now we know 😑 My mom was already annoyed with the beeping, false alarms are definitely not helping matters. 😳 I am still a fan, even if it erroneously interrupted my sleep this morning.

Cancer with Diabetes

Wendy K.Leave a comment

I highly recommend a continuous glucose monitor. My mom is using the FreeStyle Libre 3 Plus Sensor. On Sunday, 2/1/26 (2 day post-chemo) it did its job and woke us up twice when my mom’s blood sugar dropped uncomfortably low.

I woke her up and asked her to eat something. Right after her infusions, she has no appetite and it’s often challenging finding nutritious things that she is willing to eat or drink.

These items have worked for her this round:

  • Glucerna
  • Bone broth
  • Glucose Gummies (quick hit of sugar)
  • Yogurt drink (she prefers this to eating regular yogurt but her anemia has made cold things not as tolerable)
  • Peanut Butter on a slice of wheat bread
  • Egg bites
  • Tofu

My only problem with the glucose monitor is that my mom keeps turning off her phone because she doesn’t like that it keeps beeping at her. The Libre device depends on Bluetooth connectivity so the requirement is that her phone stays on and is close to her. She finds the alerts annoying but I get nervous when I don’t see her glucose levels updating, fortunately my app will alert me when the device has stopped recording.

I asked my mom’s oncologist about medicinal marijuana, we will discuss after we see how she is eating this fourth round.

Every day, we just try to keep mom strong enough to keep fighting. I know she’s frustrated and tired of being fatigued and sick. She hasn’t driven since 12/29/25. I know she feels that she has lost her independence. I just keep reminding her that all of this is temporary. If we can push past the last 2 chemo treatments, the goal is that she will win her battle with cancer, resume her independence, and enjoy several quality years of life.

Worrywart Wendy

Wendy K.Leave a comment

My mom received her 4th infusion treatment yesterday (Fri. 1/30)

I am a bit of an insomniac so rarely sleep well, Thursday night was no exception. I administered her IV antibiotic at 11:30pm and then at 3am gave her the dose of Dexamethasone (I did not forget this time). I tossed and turned the rest of the night anxious about whether my mom’s body was ready for this next chemotherapy session and dreading the inevitable decline in appetite and energy she would experience following the infusion.

After 3 prior chemo sessions, I now know enough to obsessively worry about…

  • Low potassium
  • Low sodium
  • Low glucose
  • Low calcium
  • Dehydration
  • Immobility
  • Anemia
  • Infection

Unfortunately, being educated doesn’t equate to being able to control.

Earlier this week my mom started using a glucose monitor. It has been a huge source of comfort for me! It constantly reads my mom’s glucose levels and sends the reading to her phone. More importantly it links to my phone!

Why don’t all diabetics that use insulin automatically get this device prescribed to them by their doctors?!?

Is there a tool for monitoring potassium and sodium levels? That would be helpful for cancer patients.

Mom had a good day today. She has been eating and active. But I’m still nervous every time I go check on her.

Not sure my anxiety will ever get better. For now if you are ever wondering what I’m up to, I’m probably in the LibreLinkUp app on my phone checking glucose levels because that is the only thing we can control.

Mistakes

Wendy K.Leave a comment

It’s true, everyone makes mistakes but when the mistake inflicts pain on another person, it’s hard to not beat yourself up about it.

Three times I screwed up and failed my mom:

1. The very first time my mom had a chemo infusion, I forgot to put the lidocaine and prilocaine cream on the skin covering her port. When the infusion nurse stuck the port, she screamed out in pain. The nurse looked at me and asked whether we used the numbing cream. And that is when I realized why my mom was prescribed the cream. I felt so bad.

2. After a week of administering the IV antibiotics to my mom to treat the infection in her blood, I had used all of the first of two boxes the pharmacy had given us of the sodium chloride saline flush solution. I instinctively grabbed 2 tubes of what I thought was saline flush and continued administering my mom’s morning dose. I noticed the tubes looked different than the ones from the first box but I assumed the second box had smaller tubes and it didn’t really matter whether we flushed her PICC line with 5mL or 10mL of the saline flush. It wasn’t until I was cleaning up that I realized what I actually flushed her PICC line with before and after the antibiotic was Heparin Lock flush. I panicked! I called the nurse and she said it should be ok, to go ahead and flush it with the sodium chloride saline and monitor for any new bruises or bleeding gums. I felt like the biggest idiot for poisoning my mom. It was a really careless mistake. The pharmacy sent the box of heparin but since we were administering her medication every 8 hours, the nurse said we did not need to use the heparin to prevent clots in the PICC line.

3. Forgot to remind my mom to take her chemotherapy prep medication before her infusion treatment. She is supposed to take Dexamethasone 12 hours and 6 hours before her treatment. I completely flaked and did not remember until we were headed to the clinic the morning of her treatment. FYI, if you forget but have the medication with you, you can just take a dose at the clinic before they start. But I did not have the medication with me, honestly I didn’t even know where my mom had put it in her room. We postponed treatment a couple of days. I was really upset at myself.

My mom was not upset at me for any of these mistakes. She kept apologizing to me for being such a burden and feels so bad that so much is on my shoulders. Admittedly, all of this is very heavy but it’s not her fault either. No one would choose to be sick. Just a crap situation for all of us.

Underbelly turned Armor

Wendy K.Leave a comment

I started writing my first Cancer Sucks post last year before my mom was officially diagnosed. After her diagnosis, I had zero interest in ruminating the chaos so I didn’t bother finishing the post. Life seemed to stabilize and I was no longer consumed with chasing appointments and following up with insurance companies and doctors.

I honestly did not plan to document anything further. But when my mom was hospitalized for two weeks, I felt so anxious and out of control. There was so much idle wait time and my brain was not in the right state of mind to complete any meaningful deliverables for work. So while I sat with my mom in the hospital, I made hand drawn cards and listened to music. Then after a week, I decided to channel my nervous energy into documenting what was happening to my mom in the hopes of providing some helpful insight for others who were starting their own cancer journey.

I had grand plans to create useful templates for medical contacts and medication lists. Maybe even useful reference guides but then it became too overwhelming to make sure the content was perfect.

I abandoned the need to be productive and decided to just journal for my mental health. I wasn’t sure if I would publish anything I wrote because sharing the news and providing updates to even a few close family & friends oftentimes left me feeling incredibly vulnerable.

But one of the coolest things about opening up to people, is the number of people who have reciprocated and shared their personal experiences with cancer, caretaking, or navigating the healthcare system. It’s incredible how many people were not only able to understand but also taught me many helpful things. I would not wish this experience on anyone but being able to relate to those who have walked the same path has been both validating and encouraging.

Thank you for your positive vibes, support, & prayers. I feel less alone and strengthened to keep trudging along.

Notable Mentions

Wendy K.Leave a comment

We should acknowledge and celebrate those who commit to 12+ hour shifts and navigate the demanding world of hospital life. Their work is far from easy, often involving challenging, gory, and emotional situations. When we come across individuals who not only show up but do so with a positive attitude, they deserve our recognition and appreciation, not harm.

The tragic death of ICU Nurse Alex Pretti in Minnesota is heartbreaking. This outrageous event prompted me to reflect on the numerous nurses, doctors, technicians, and various hospital staff involved in my mom’s care. Some of them, angels on earth, whom I will forever be grateful to for their kindness and extra care they showed to my mom during her hospital stay.

Nurse Tasha, ER Nurse, took such good care of my mom despite being so busy running around handling the insane number of patients in the ER that evening. My mom arrived at the ER a little before 9pm on 1/4 but did not get moved into a room until 4:30pm on 1/5 (almost 20 hours later). She was admitted before 2am on 1/5 but the ER and hospital were at capacity with at least 8 people laying in bed in the open area without rooms. I saw a man getting an open head wound stitched up right in the walkway of the ER. My mom was lucky to have a room. Despite the chaos in the ER, Tasha was very kind and patient.

Hands down, Nurse Wene was my favorite night nurse. She was attentive to my mother, and worked really hard to keep her comfortable. I don’t know exactly how to explain the warmth I felt from her, but it felt special.

Nurse Gene from the surgery / procedure prep team was someone we had met prior to to this second hospital visit. He was one of the nurses that helped my mom when she had her paracentesis procedures at the end of 2025. He also exhibited compassion that felt genuine.

Dr. C, the Infection Disease doctor, was wonderful. He was thorough and aggressive when it came to treating my mom’s infection. He checked on her regularly, even late at night. He listened to our concerns regarding the pain she was feeling in the area around ribs, and I appreciated him checking her spleen (behind the ribs) to make sure infection had not settled there.

My mom had two general doctors during her stay. Dr. S and Dr. N. The experience between the two were night and day. I never got the feeling that the first doctor was really concerned about any of the symptoms my mom was experiencing, he seemed dismissive and ready to leave as soon as he walked in the room. Dr. N on the other hand, was amazing. She was wiling to listen to our concerns, address them, and take the time to explain. I was really happy when she took over my mom’s care.

Kerry, one of the hospital staff in surgery, helped my mom get a new bed after her surgery. Her bed was malfunctioning the evening before, and kept auto-calling the nurses. Maintenance was not able to remediate the night before, so the poor nurses had to deal with the constant calls from my mom’s bed. When I mentioned it to him, he made sure to grab her a new bed but even more kind was him taking the time to chat with me while I was waiting for my mom in the surgery waiting room the day she had her port removed. I was really feeling overwhelmed by everything, and just that little conversation brightened my day.

Donna, my mom’s case manager, who helped me navigate a 2 hour call with insurance and then get my mom squared away with her IV Antibiotics delivery and home health care (nurse, occupational therapist, & physical therapist).

I also came to know Kaden, a 19 year old, who cleaned my mom’s hospital room regularly and Jeremy the staff member from the kitchen who delivered my mom her food.

All of you matter, and all of you made a difference in our lives!

TOO WEAK / TWO WEEKS

Wendy K.Leave a comment

My mom was admitted to the hospital on 1/4/26 and discharged on 1/18/26. In those two weeks, a lot occurred…

Day 1 – Admitted, given potassium, calcium, sodium
Day 2 – Chest Xray, Brain CT
Day 3 – Bacteria found in bloodwork, IV Antibiotics started
Day 4 – Pain on both sides of torso (rib area), starts seeing black floaters, Echocardiogram
Day 6 – TEE procedure
Day 7- Surgery to remove her port, confirmed to be the source of the bacteria infection in her blood
Day 8 – MRI of lumbar & thoracic spine to check for infection
Day 9 – Chest pain
Day 10 – CTA (CT Angiography)
Day 12 – Cardiac Catheterization revealed severely blocked arteries in her heart. As a cancer patient, she is not a candidate for heart bypass surgery.
Day 13 – Abdominal Sonogram
Day 14 – Hemoglobin low leading to blood transfusion
Day 15 – Abdominal CT Scan, Chest Xray, PICC Placed, Discharged

On top of all of the above, my poor momma endured so many blood withdrawals, IVs, medications. She was weak, confused, in pain, and frustrated.

It was a challenging two weeks. My mom felt like she was in prison, and I struggled to balance all my responsibilities as a daughter, mother, sister, wife, & employee.

In the end, my mom did not qualify for rehabilitation because she was walking around well enough, so our options were skilled nursing or bringing her home and someone learning how to administer the IV Antibiotics for her every 8 hours. Her oncologist and her doctor both advised against skilled nursing, so…I was trained and she came home.

Yo Yo of Emotions

Wendy K.Leave a comment

Receiving any sort of negative medical news brings on a roller coaster of emotions. When we thought my mom had liver cirrhosis and would have to manage ascites with routine paracentesis procedures, it was shocking and intimidating. When we were told that cancer cells were found in the fluid that had been biopsied from her abdomen and all her symptoms pointed to pancreatic cancer, we were scared and sad. It felt like a death sentence. My mom felt like all of it was so unfair, she didn’t smoke, didn’t drink alcohol, and ate healthy. I was angry at her doctors for not checking for cancer earlier. There was so much trial and error with her gastroenterologists with acid reflux medication, colonoscopies, and even gall bladder surgery. I was mad at my mom for not mentioning to her doctors that her older brother had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I was mad at the ER gastroenterologist for not catching the cancer cells in the first fluid biopsy and referring her to an oncologist right then and there. I was mad at God. In between the telephone calls and medical appointments we would cry, quiet sad tears. When we found out that it was not pancreatic cancer, we felt hopeful. When her diagnostic mammogram showed calcification and required a biopsy, we held our breaths. When both her breast biopsy and brain MRI came back clean, we celebrated! Her echocardiogram came back normal, yay! Her stress test came back abnormal, boo! Each new piece of information that is revealed surfaces a new emotion. It is EXHAUSTING!

Marathon of Appointments

Wendy K.Leave a comment

On 11/4/2025, 64 Days, 2 Months, 5 Specialists, 20 Medical Appointments after my mom was discharged from the hospital; she received a formal diagnosis of Stage 3B Primary Peritoneal Carcinoma.

Training and running a marathon is time consuming, exhausting, and emotional but at the end of the 26.2 miles, you receive a medal. For us, we ended our marathon of medical appointments with a cancer diagnosis. I would say that knowing is definitely better than the unknown but yeah, cancer really does SUCK!

For more than 2 months, managing her healthcare was my full-time (part-time) job: countless calls to doctors, nurses, hospitals, labs, insurance, scheduling appointments, transporting her to and from all the appointments, and constant information sharing with all the various medical staff. I maintained an online calendar of all her medical appointments, carried around printouts of her medication, and kept a binder of all her medical records starting with her hospital discharge papers.

It would be unlikely that any patient going through all these health issues would be able to manage any of this on their own. Brain fog is often common. I am fortunate to have a strong network of family, friends, and coworkers to help support me and pick up my slack as my attention has been focused on my mom. I often think about others who are not as lucky and wonder what happens to those patients and families.

My advice for anyone going through health challenges:

  1. Do not accept poor service / care. If you have concerns or are unhappy, ask for a new doctor / nurse / etc.
    • The GI doctor assigned to my mom while she was in the hospital was disappointing. During our 9/18/25 follow up appointment with him, he spent the entire time looking at his phone and computer screen and he made my mom feel like a number on a piece of paper. We left that appointment with no answers, still thinking she had liver cirrhosis. I called her PCP that same day and requested a new GI referral. The PCP referred my mom to the GI doctor who she had visited earlier in the year for all her digestive issues. The experience with this other GI PA was night and day difference. She was warm, listened to us, and said she did not believe my mom had liver cirrhosis. She began questioning the results of the hospital discharge and ordered another paracentesis with a more comprehensive biopsy of the fluid than what the hospital GI doctor had ordered. This second GI office called on 10/7/25 to notify us that cancer cells were found in the fluid biopsy and referred us to an Oncologist.
  2. Scheduling appointments is exhausting. Sometimes the only available dates are so far out in the future. Ask for alternate locations or staff with earlier availability. Additionally, I encourage you to call the insurance companies to question and push authorizations through. Take an aggressive and proactive approach.
    • During the 2 months, I drove my mom all over the Houston area. We had appointments in Kingwood, Tomball, Woodlands, Spring. I asked for anything within a 50 mile radius. I made multiple calls to the insurance companies and Medicare. I also picked up imaging CDs and personally delivered them the same day in lieu of waiting for records to be sent by staff electronically or mailed. I genuinely feel that it made a huge difference in how quickly my mom was able to schedule appointments, complete all her tests / labs, and receive her first chemotherapy infusion treatment.
  3. Keep thorough notes of any interaction you have with nurses, doctors, different specialists, insurance companies, lab technicians, scheduling.
  4. Repeat the same information to EVERYONE. It is important to make sure everyone is aligned and every specialist, doctor, lab, knows everything you know.
  5. Advocate for yourself or your loved one with kindness and understanding. It is challenging not to take out our frustrations out on others, but important to keep in mind that everyone is working in the confines of their jobs. Several times, I felt that being nice to people made them more patient and willing to go the extra mile to help me or share helpful information that would push the process further along.
  6. Confide in trusted family / friends. Dealing with all of these health challenges can be overwhelming and isolating. Ask for help and take care of your own needs. It’s not selfish, it’s necessary!