Our First veiw of Cancer

Wow, that's all I can say.  It seems that you plan for life to go a certain way and then bamm! You are hit, out of nowhere, by a little word called Cancer.  My Monday started out just like every Monday. I took the kids to school.  Helped my daughter with her school work.  Cleaned our house and cooked dinner. 

We are in the middle of playing a family board game and the phone rang.  It was Lori, the lady in Charge at the senior housing my mother lives at. She told me, my mom was a little shaken up after the fire alarm went off and had to be taken to the Emergency Room by ambulance.  I thanked her for calling and headed out the door after grabbing a comfy blanket and a book to read, just in case. 

I arrived at the ER, they led me down the hall, to the room my mom was in.  She was in good spirits, just complaining of chest pain and her blood pressure was high.  I sat with her until the X-ray person came to take an x-ray of her lungs and then I waited outside the, "radiation zone," until it was safe to go back in. 

The nurse gave her something for pain, because my mom was a little uncomfortable laying on the gurney, there in the ER.  She rested a lot more comfortably afterward.  That blanket came in handy to keep her comfortable, as she rested. 

The Doctor came in and said he was concerned about her X-rays, that she had taken in October the previous year, and it showed a mass on her lungs.  He said to her, "Well it looks like it's bigger now and when you see that, you suspect cancer." and said he wanted to send her to have a Ct scan.  

A nice young man came and took her down to the Ct scan and let me stand in the control room, where my heart sunk as I saw images of this mass in my mothers lung getting bigger and bigger.  I knew it couldn't have been good.  

After waiting a while, the Doctor came in and told us that it was cancer, that it was going to take her life eventually.  We were both stunned at first and then I opened my mouth and said, "Well that isn't such bad news when you have the hope of eternal life in Christ Jesus."  The Doctor looked relieved that I had mentioned that first and agreed with me wholeheartedly. 

My mother was very calm and we both felt at peace.  My mom is a young 67.  We had been talking before the doctor came in and I asked her, "Mom if it's cancer do you think you will take the Chemotherapy?"  She said, "No"  I must say, I have always felt if I were to get cancer. I would not take Chemotherapy either. We joked about the good pain killers and of course the medical marijuana.  

We left the hospital and we were quiet, in the car, driving home, on that cold January morning.  It just hit me like a punch to the stomach, my mom has cancer, she is going to die.  I just started to cry.  I am writing this blog to share our journey and document where we are going with her treatment and her decisions along the way.  I plan to journal her thoughts and feelings here as much as possible too.    

So travel on this journey with us.