My Mom

Sure I would! The doctors found an abnormality in my mother’s liver during a routine CT scan for kidney stones. At the time, it was too early to know for sure what it was, but they started treating for cholangiocarcinoma. The chemo made her very sick so her doctor sent her to an interventional radiologist who tried something new at the time where they inject a high dose of chemo right into the liver where the tumor was & block off the vein so the drugs stay there for a month or so & then they go in & remove that part of the liver. This procedure was very successful as she would only need it once a year or so with little setback. After the second removal, she went into remission for almost one year, then the doctors found a trace of the tumor back in the liver. They did the procedure again, brought her into the hospital for the removal, and found it had spread outside of the liver. That was the hardest news we had to take, worse than the diagnosis or putting her into hospice. She was very optimistic and continued to work until she was forced to retire on November 1, 2006. She opted for in-home hospice so I did day-shift while the rest of the family took nights & weekends. We were lucky to have her for the holidays, Valentine’s Day, and even Easter. We witnessed all of her wishes to the end, and I thank God everyday for that.