The next phase
The boys and I returned last week from a lovely vacation to Hawaii, spending Christmas and New Year’s with my father and stepmother. P and Eoin had a great time, which included going to see the erupting volcano with Kuku (it’s what they call my Dad…Tutu is a Hawaiian phrase for grandmother, and we went with Kuku for grandfather. I called my grandfather that) and P learning to surf on Waikiki.
Unfortunately, on our way back from Hawaii there was some not-so-happy news. My mother had a cough for about a month, trying to beat it with over the counter remedies and antibiotics. She went to a doc to get pneumonia ruled out. They didn’t see pneumonia on the x-ray, but there was a mass on her lung. A CAT scan indicated that it was not a good type of mass, and they went on to have a PET scan done. This told the docs that it was a form of cancer, and the docs decided to operate and remove my mother’s right lung (along with one of her ribs. I’ve been trying for 2 days to come up with an Adam and Eve joke and just can’t. Where’s B when you need him?). The cancer has spread some to her right lymph nodes, but the docs are feeling confident that chemo or even a daily pill will be able to take care of that, once she’s recovered enough to get the next step of treatment.
They are looking around at cancer centers in the US, and other types of drugs that are out there. Technically, she’s been classified as Stage 3A.
Everyone is asking how she, and I, are doing. From what I can tell, she’s having good days and bad days, just as everyone does. No, I haven’t talked to her on the phone; I did talk to my stepfather, who sounded like he was holding up okay. I remember the amount of phone calls and email and texts the first few days, and how overwhelming it was. So I’m doing what I know I can to help…posting on the blog. 🙂 To lighten the load, just as we did with B.
Updates will be coming as we get them. Thank you for all the well-wishes. I know she’ll be happy to know there are people all over the world pulling for her.
