grace4five
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Andrea,
I am so sorry to hear about mom and the setback. I do understand about trying to be the cheerleader all the while being afraid yourself. My mom was diagnosed last May and it was the worst day of my 45 year old life! As I’m sure you experienced, the waves of despair subside and you learn to live without knowing what will come (some days better than others.) I too have a brother who either doesn’t understand or refuses to acknowledge what is happening. As a matter of fact, when she first went to MD Anderson, he almost forbid her to talk about cancer, death or any negative emotions. Obviously my dad and I did not allow this to continue, but this has been a constant struggle.My wonderful, positive mom called me today to talk about a friend of mine who is battling lung cancer and struggling emotionally. “I don’t think about it if I don’t have to,” she said. She keeps focused on the day at hand. She has tremendous faith and is so grateful to be here far past her original forecast!
Mom has six grandchildren ages 11-2 and wants nothing more than to see them grow up. She takes every opportunity to be with them. I KNOW that she is handling this better than my dad. He is struggling to keep things “normal” and often asks me if I know what she’s thinking (she doesn’t talk to him about it). He has even complained that since her proton radiation, she’s a bit sassy (that sounds odd) which she has never been in her life! I have to chuckle…maybe she’s decided life’s too short to put up with anything.
Regarding back pain, that was what originally led Mom to the doctor. I am not familiar with any other chemo than what Mom took. I hated chemo for her. I know she may need it again and would willingly do it without complaint. By the end of her 8-months of chemo she could barely walk five feet without getting winded….she was a shell of herself. But today she is feeling great physically, emotionally and spiritually and who am I to worry. I hope to grow more and more like her, taking each day as it comes and trusting God more along the way.
Andrea, again I will pray for you, for God’s grace for you & your family!
Julie
Thanks to both of you. It did help to talk about it and now I am moving on to find out all I can to help Mom through this next hurdle! I am now really curious about the met to the lung. Does anyone know if this is common? Does the cancer typically grow quickly/slowly in the lung? Has anyone out there had proton radiation treatment?
Mom completed chemo in May so this growth has occurred since then. I’m not sure if that would be considered fast-growing or not as the largest nodule is .9 cm. I trust that her oncologist at MD Anderson would have recommended some treatment if it were necessary, but we want to know what to expect (that’s a lot to ask, I guess). He didn’t focus on the lung nodules very much in our meeting yesterday as the liver tumors were the greatest concern. I would appreciate any information on this new development.
Thanks, Julie
