About 3 weeks ago (prior to fair), I had a regular day, on my drive home made my normal phone calls, including one to home to let them know I was on my way. Now, yes almost everyday I call my parents to inform them that my day was good and I was headed home-- my dad is crazy about this, even for my older brother who also drives a significant distance to work.
But this day was different. When I pulled up to my driveway, I could see my mom's car parked in front of my house. When I got out and started grabbing my stuff to take inside, my mom and brother got out of the car. This was kinda strange considering my brother and I have a stressed relationship and talk rather infrequently. I looked at him and gave him a "WTF?" look and he just shrugged his shoulders as he had no clue what he was doing there.
I casually said, "What's going on?" My mom replied, "I have something to tell you guys but wanted to tell you together". Growing up, this was my mom's go-to phrase before handing out bad news. She always says, "I have something to tell you," always without fail and this time was no different. So we went inside and she proceeded to tell my brother and I that she had been diagnosed with cancer. She went through all the details-- without telling too much as she was still waiting on some tests and what not.
For those of you that don't know, she's adopted. This means, she's never had any medical history. Because of this, she has always been extremely proactive about her health and seeing doctors and making sure that she's on top of things. Fortunately, that means she hopefully caught it early. Another positive is that doctors don't think it had spread to other organs but would not have real "stage" information until after surgery to remove it and it goes through the labs.
Now, we have had many friends and family diagnosed with cancer. But this process has given me an entirely different perspective. I'm not sure why considering both my grandparents, on my mom's side, died at older ages from cancer. But they were both smokers and so to some extent I expected that. That is probably a harsh way to look at it but when you abuse your body, sooner or later, something is bound to happen not in your favor. But there are so many people lately in my life that have been "healthy" and then diagnosed with cancer. I guess God works in mysterious ways and I may never know a WHY for many things in life. But I do know that my mom is the strongest person I know. She has put up with my father for almost 40 years-- that's enough to kill ya! Has my brother and I, which have never been "easy" children. But she makes the best of everything-- hell she cooked outside with no oven or stove for almost 6 years before getting the kitchen remodeled. But she is pretty blessed too... I mean I am her child so there's that... Just kidding!
In all seriousness, the list of people I have to call after she's out of surgery in the next hour or two is pretty lengthy. There are so many people that are like family because my mom is a great lady. People love her... She knows so many people and I don't know of any that dislike her. It's probably because they've met my dad or I and they feel bad for her and how nice she is-- you just can't help but like her!
It's a weird thing to sit in the pre-op room when like 6-7 doctors and nurses, separately visited to check different things and make sure she's ready to go. They were very good at explaining things. My dad and brother just sat reading magazines. Mostly because I know some of the things were over their heads. I also know that they both were about two steps from passing out when the nurse put in her IV. My favorite was when they were telling her about one type of treatment for after, that is a shot that has to happen everyday for four weeks. She got a little nervous when they said she could do it herself. The doctor pointed at my dad and suggested maybe he could do it and we all started laughing because there is NO WAY he could do that without passing out. I volunteered.
It's still a surreal thing... My mom has cancer... Really? WTF? Nawh! She's good right?
Hopefully after today, it will be gone... Only time will tell... CANCER SUCKS!
I casually said, "What's going on?" My mom replied, "I have something to tell you guys but wanted to tell you together". Growing up, this was my mom's go-to phrase before handing out bad news. She always says, "I have something to tell you," always without fail and this time was no different. So we went inside and she proceeded to tell my brother and I that she had been diagnosed with cancer. She went through all the details-- without telling too much as she was still waiting on some tests and what not.
For those of you that don't know, she's adopted. This means, she's never had any medical history. Because of this, she has always been extremely proactive about her health and seeing doctors and making sure that she's on top of things. Fortunately, that means she hopefully caught it early. Another positive is that doctors don't think it had spread to other organs but would not have real "stage" information until after surgery to remove it and it goes through the labs.
Now, we have had many friends and family diagnosed with cancer. But this process has given me an entirely different perspective. I'm not sure why considering both my grandparents, on my mom's side, died at older ages from cancer. But they were both smokers and so to some extent I expected that. That is probably a harsh way to look at it but when you abuse your body, sooner or later, something is bound to happen not in your favor. But there are so many people lately in my life that have been "healthy" and then diagnosed with cancer. I guess God works in mysterious ways and I may never know a WHY for many things in life. But I do know that my mom is the strongest person I know. She has put up with my father for almost 40 years-- that's enough to kill ya! Has my brother and I, which have never been "easy" children. But she makes the best of everything-- hell she cooked outside with no oven or stove for almost 6 years before getting the kitchen remodeled. But she is pretty blessed too... I mean I am her child so there's that... Just kidding!
In all seriousness, the list of people I have to call after she's out of surgery in the next hour or two is pretty lengthy. There are so many people that are like family because my mom is a great lady. People love her... She knows so many people and I don't know of any that dislike her. It's probably because they've met my dad or I and they feel bad for her and how nice she is-- you just can't help but like her!
It's a weird thing to sit in the pre-op room when like 6-7 doctors and nurses, separately visited to check different things and make sure she's ready to go. They were very good at explaining things. My dad and brother just sat reading magazines. Mostly because I know some of the things were over their heads. I also know that they both were about two steps from passing out when the nurse put in her IV. My favorite was when they were telling her about one type of treatment for after, that is a shot that has to happen everyday for four weeks. She got a little nervous when they said she could do it herself. The doctor pointed at my dad and suggested maybe he could do it and we all started laughing because there is NO WAY he could do that without passing out. I volunteered.
It's still a surreal thing... My mom has cancer... Really? WTF? Nawh! She's good right?
Hopefully after today, it will be gone... Only time will tell... CANCER SUCKS!
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