It's good to be back...

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Hello, hello, everyone!

I'm back!! I'm still very much jet-legged and move around like a zombi, functioning on about 3-4 hours of sleep a day.

Thank you all for your comments on my last post. I'm happy to say that things somewhat improved since and before I left. First, they finally started my Mom on chemo. It's a low-dose that they usually give at the very beginning of treatment. They started her on Tuesday, and at the moment, she's getting a double dose every other day. So far, she's handling it like a champ. I'm so proud of her!

And in the past week her whole demeanor has changed. She was really excited to finally start her treatment. And honestly, spending three weeks in the hospital with no change would be hard on anybody. It was nice to see her smiling again! We finally sat down with the guy who is in charge of the hematology wing of the hospital and had a hard and long talk. He promised us to do everything in his power to help her. Eventually, she will have to be transferred to a different facility in Moscow for continuous treatment because there are some procedures that they just don't do in my hometown. This guy is a medical professor, and has a degree specifically in hematology (I tried to think of the American equivalent to all of his degrees but I'm too tired, and my brains don't function properly :). He seems to be pretty knowledgeable and gave us hope.

He also told us that her disease hasn't touched her bones yet which is good (if you are curious to read more about multiple myeloma,  here is one of the links). But it did affect her kidneys quite a bit. After this round of chemo, they will do dialysis on her. We are not sure yet, if it will be a one-time thing or a continuous treatment. I guess, we'll have to take it one thing at a time...

We also told her quite a bit about her condition, and she's ready to face it! The only thing we omitted are the statistics on possible life longevity because we don't see how it would help her, especially right now. She will be getting a few more rounds of this treatment and then they will start her on a stronger kind of drug (Velcade) in about a month.

We know that her future is very much unknown but every day of her life is important and precious right now. Whether she has five or twenty five years ahead of her, we want to enjoy this time as much as we can.

Eventually (aka when my husband finally finds a job...), we want to start saving some money every month to be able to go back more often and as a family.

And now we will just try to get back to normal, the new "normal" that is... I'm still trying to catch up on many-many things (including all of your comments and e-mails. Did I mention before that you guys are awesome? :) but, hopefully, I can resume regular posts next week or as soon as I catch up on some sleep :)

I also can't wait to read all of your blogs and to see how all of you are doing. Thank you for being here for all of us during this uncertain and scary time!

Love you all,