Mama would need to express her feelings and would also end up encouraging me in the process. What if this was her last summer, and we spent good portions of it being snippy with one another and frustrated with our circumstances? Those long car rides were good for conversation at times, though. It wasn’t a particularly enjoyable summer for any of us, and that was made worse by the reality of my mom’s diagnosis. It was so easy to get frustrated at the traffic in Durham, doctors running late, appointments being pushed back, having to change plans, etc. Everyone in my immediate family is very laid back, but tensions have a tendency to run high in hard times. She rarely had any pain or nausea, but she did experience extreme fatigue and loss of appetite. She was blessed to not suffer many of the typical side effects of chemo during transfusions. We spent many days sitting in a treatment room, eating Chick-fil-A and watching poison infuse into her body. We went to Durham every few weeks for the next 5 months with at least one family member in tow each time, since she was still unable to drive because of the treatments as well as her vision. Her first chemo treatment was the week of July 9th. She spent a week in the hospital that time and left with a new Port-a-Cath to be used for chemo. Even with this diagnosis, she was the pillar of strength for the family. If He’s good in the good times, He’s also good in the bad ones. She continuously said that she had to choose to live as though everything she knows about the Lord is true. From that first day, she maintained the stance that she would trust Christ with her life. My mom was incredibly strong, stronger than any of the rest of us. Our minds cannot help but jumping to the worst case scenario. On June 15, the oncologist sat on the end of her hospital bed, with my dad and I standing nearby, and told us she had a stage IV metastatic tumor that was on her bladder wall but appeared to have possibly moved into her colon as well as some lymph nodes. She was admitted to Duke hospital for management, and finally we were able to receive an official diagnosis. Before a diagnosis was even given, my mom experienced some bleeding that was cause for concern. The words “inconclusive results” were said too many times and more tests were done. Those scans and biopsies that Duke performed were also a cause of trouble. So now we have vision issues, a possible return of cancer and epilepsy that just suddenly became active. I’d seen patients seize, but there’s nothing scarier than watching your loved one go through it. Strangely enough, I was present for both of them. She experienced two grand mal seizures (the first she’s ever had in her life) that spring, one at home and one at the school where she worked. After multiple scans and finally a biopsy over the course of the next few weeks (weeks!!), we played the waiting game.ĭuring this period, my mom’s epilepsy which had been previously well-controlled, began causing her more trouble. This is the last thing anyone wants to hear.
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This should have been a routine visit, but instead, the physicians were certain they could feel a growth. She didn’t experience any improvement.Īfter this, she went to Duke for her follow-up appointment from her surgery in fall of 2016.
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They gave her oral steroids as an almost shot-in-the-dark treatment. She ended up seeing a retina specialist at UNC who has been incredibly sweet and caring through this entire process, but was very honest with us that she also was not sure of the cause. His only guess was that something was wrong with her retinas. They recommended she see a neurological ophthalmologist, who was, oddly enough, also clueless about why she’d be having vision trouble. Her optometrist was puzzled, as was the ophthalmologist. She woke up one morning in February with highly impaired vision and no clear reason. Then strange things started happening again. The thought of losing her had been so difficult last fall, so by the time spring came around we were just thrilled to be setting down a nice and easy path for the rest of the year. Although, I am highly partial by thinking she’s the best. Moms tend to be the glue which hold families together, and my mother is no different. I began the year ecstatic that she had dealt with it successfully, came through the surgery perfectly and was now cancer-free! The news was almost too good to believe. That ended up being a fairly simple ordeal with an uncomplicated treatment. In the fall of 2016, my mom was diagnosed with uterine cancer.