Mom's Cancer - The Diagnosis

I should have started blogging before today, just to keep a record of everything. But I guess somehow I was in denial before now that this could possibly be anything serious. To get caught up to date, here's what happened up until now...

A few months ago, mom went in for her regular check up with her OB/GYN who referred her to a general practitioner regarding some high blood pressure and a bad cough. The general practitioner put her on medication for blood pressure and osteoperosis but ignored her cough. When she finally pushed the issue he gave her a prescription for amoxicillan & that was that. Her cough didn't get better though. So after turning 65 on June 4th and getting signed up for medicare, she switched clinics and went to see a different doctor. A chest X-ray revealed a spot on one of her lungs. A couple of weeks later she had a CT scan done. Then a couple of weeks later, on August 5th, she had a biopsy done - confirming it was cancer. Then a couple of weeks later, on August 14th, she had a PET scan done to see how much of her body was affected by the cancer. Yesterday she met with her oncologist to get the results of that PET scan. I think that brings us up to date.

So Mom saw her oncologist yesterday, August 20th. She has cancer in both lungs and it has spread to her lymph nodes. She has been having headaches so they have scheduled an MRI for August 26th to see if it has spread to her brain. They think it is a slow-growing variety of cancer, so I guess that's positive. Since it is in both lungs rather than just one surgery is not an option, so they are going to try chemotherapy. She will have three doses, each one 3 weeks apart, and then they will check to see if it has had any effect. Her first treatment is scheduled for Wednesday, September 3rd. They probably would have started next week, August 27th, but she has scheduled an appointment with her attorney for that day. She has not updated her will in probably 20 years and she wants to get her affairs in order in regard to her estate while she still feels well enough to take care of such things. She wants to list my half-brother (her step-son) Dane as the executor of the will, but she has asked if she can list me as a second in case he is unable to do it for any reason. I told her yes, of course. I know that she really wants to keep the farm in the family, but she has concerns about the need to sell some of it if her medical bills should become too high. She also wants to make sure that (my sister & her eldest daughter) Laura does not receive any inheritance what-so-ever, and to ensure that (my brother, her eldest son) Tom's ex-wife cannot get a portion of anything that she chooses to leave to him. She has also stated that she wants to leave something to Griff (her live-in companion), although it would not be an equal share to what each of us children are getting. I am relieved that she is finally seeking legal coucil in order to make sure things are distributed per her wishes.

She has asked me to buy her some Harley Davidson doo-rags since she will for certain lose her hair. :) She wants me to find out if there is any way to have a wig made out of her own hair. If not, then she wants to cut it off short and donate it to Locks of Love before she begins her treatment. Per her nature, she does not seem at all phased by the news of her diagnosis and is more concerned about those of us around her than she is for herself. She told me that she was "sorry she didn't have better news to share." She still plans to go ahead with the addition on her house, and they should be breaking ground for the new basement in a couple of weeks. I, personally, was doing fine last night but it seems to have really sunk in today at work. I couldn't concentrate and so decided to write this blog thinking it would be good to get it off my chest, but writing it out has somehow made it more real & now I am crying. I need to try and take my mind off of this and get some work done today. I'm not usually such an emotional person. I think that I can attribute some of this to the raging hormones that come hand-in-hand with pregnancy. On July 18th I got a positive pregnancy test indicating that I was exactly 4 weeks pregnant. This puts my due date at March 27th. I have had morning sickness and am exhausted which I am certain is contributing to my current state of mind. However, there is always work to be done so I will close for now and get at it...