My Mom...I Love You Mom!
I guess my greatest inspiration in life is my mother. Most people
love their mothers-that in itself is not anything unusual.
My mom is a little different than some other moms;
she has cancer. Non-
Hodgkin's Lymphoma. We have known her diagnosis for about four years now.
When we first found out that Mom had a tumor in her abdomen,
and that she would have to not only go through surgery to
remove the tumor, but also multiple horrendous rounds of
chemotherapy, it was right at Thanksgiving. My sister and
I are both registered nurses,
and we both suspected the worst...
that she wouldn't be with us much longer.
Three years later, she is still with us, Thank God. She has finally, this past summer, been able to retire from her work with the Social Security Administration, after over 30 years of service, and is trying to learn to take it easy. We live 450 miles apart...I hate that. But she loves her condo on the beach (Florida) and I love the mountains (Tennessee). The strangest thing of all is that in a way, finding out that she had cancer benefited all of us- we know that we have to make the most of the time we have left, and not let petty squabbles and such waste the time we still have left. Some people have no warning when their loved ones die, and they haven't had a chance to say all that they wanted to say. I thank God for giving us the opportunity to wake up, smell the coffee, and let her know just how much we love her.
Update-- August 7, 1998... Mom finally moved up here to Tennessee to be closer to her daughters and grandson, and is doing pretty well, all things considered...she did have a "relapse", with renewed tumor growth, but after many long months of IV Chemo, the tumor growth has slowed. She now has a few precious months off from the chemo, and the oncologist has said that if/when she has to start chemo again, he will be using one of the newer models, with less side effects. Now the biggest worry is that due to Mom's shortness of breath and easy fatigue, they did chest x-rays and whatnot, and found that some of the lymph nodes in her mediastinum (between the lungs) are showing some signs of growth...if you pray, please include her in your prayers, that these will subside. Thanks for listening!
I have found some good links dealing with cancer- also, if anyone out there is interested in joining a support group webring that I created for families dealing with cancer, please see to join us.
Here are some helpful links:
National Alliance Of Breast Cancer OrganizationsAmerican Dietetic Association
MedlineThe Association Of Cancer On Line Resources
The American Cancer Society
PDQ:NCI's Comprehensive Cancer Database
Oncolink: A University Of Penn. Cancer Center Resource
