Mom

I haven't been here for a long time, since May. A lot has happened since that time. Three people very close to me were diagnosed with cancer, all within a month of each other - my mother, my wife's step-father, and also her father.

Mom was diagnosed with gall bladder cancer in February. By the time the doctors found the tumor it had grown into her liver and was blocking the ducts that drained the liver. It was the blockage of the bile ducts that offered the first glimpse that something was wrong. My sister Karen had gone to visit Mom one morning and noticed she had a yellow tinge to her skin. She told Mom, "I think you might have a hepatitus infection, Mom." She immediately took her to the hospital where doctors initially thought the same thing. By the end of the day, after running tests and doing blood work, the doctor broke the news that Mom had cancer. Mom was quickly scheduled for an operation to install a stent in her liver.

A few days later, doctors had placed the stent in Mom's liver that allowed the bile to drain. It wasn't a routine operation, though. The first doctor attempted to insert the stent through the lower portion of the liver but couldn't. A second doctor was called in to help. With one doctor threading the stent through an incision in the top of the liver, the other doctor came up through the bottom of the liver and pulled the stent down into the drainage ducts. The operation was a short-lived success. One week later the tumor had grown through the mesh stent and blocked the ducts again. Another operation was performed and the stent was reopened.

Mom was placed on chemotherapy and began her struggle to fight the very aggressive and fast growing cancerous tumor. Over the next few months mom grew weak and was rushed to the emergency room several times to receive fluids. She would dehydrate, have low sodium levels and low potassium levels. She steadily lost weight as her appetite waned and she grew weaker. The doctor's prognosis was grim, he suggested the family be called together.

Mom fought the cancer for five months before it finally got her. Amazingly, during even the most agonizing periods of her battle, she was more concerned with other people than she was with her own well being. She had voiced her concern for her children to my older sister, Kim. She said, "Kim, I'm ready to go if the Lord wishes it. I'm comfortable with that, but I'm worried about you kids." She was also concerned about Sharon's father and step-father, asking how they were doing, saying, "I'll say a prayer for them."

Mom passed away at 10:22 A.M., on June 24, 2009. She was surrounded by all her children, her grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren. Mom took her last breath in her own bed, in her own house. She now rests with her grandson, Anthony, in a beautiful wooded cemetary with the soothing sounds of a nearby fountain.