and Sprinkles on Top

Update on My Mom

Posted on 28. Mar, 2010 by Deb in The Girl

Mother was finally sent home from the hospital on Wednesday evening. She met with oncology (Texas Oncology and they are WONDERFUL) on Thursday for her pre-assessment meeting to get her tattoo and cat-scan. On Friday received her first radiation treatment. She was exhausted both Friday night and most of Saturday and ate her first good meal on Saturday night. Today, she says she is tired but feels more like her “old self”.

We know that the cancer is a 3b and we know that it has not spread beyond her chest cavity at this point. She is going to try radiation and will make a decision from there on her further treatment. The doctors have told her that have two weeks of radiation, they will be able to see if it is effective in any way. At this point, she will decide if she is going to continue treatment.

I know a lot of folks would say that she should do everything possible to extend her time here in this life. And no one wants to lose their Mother (or spouse or sister or grandmother). However. It is HER life. HER body. She has said that if treatment is going to only prolong her life by weeks or months and she will be miserable and in pain, she doesn’t want to do it. If treatment can prolong her life by years, she is all in. She wants to remain as long as possible, but there has to be a QUALITY to life, not just quantity.
She is 74 and has led a long, full life. She has two kids, four grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. She still has friends that are living that she spends time with and she has an older brother and sister still around.

I have assured her, as has my sister and father, that treatment is her choice. That we will support her in whatever she chooses. That she has a right to have her remaining days be about a quality and enjoyment of life.

I think that’s all any of us ask is that our life can be filled with more joy than pain.

(photo of me and my mom, circa 1969)

Tags: Cancer, Child-Parent Relationships, Mother