A whole year?

Wow, Where does time go? There have been so many things happen in this last year. Some good and some not so good. But we learn from them and move on.

Since it is October, and October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, I want to point out how important it is to make sure you ladies get your yearly check ups. Do self exams and if anything seems out of the ordinary, GET IT CHECKED!! There are free clinics that do Mamograms out there, and Please please when you get a chance donate to Cancer research.

You see I have a passion for this subject. I just lost my mom to Cancer. It started out as Breast Cancer, that was found in 2004. She was working as a caregiver for a lady who had Cancer, and was takeing out the trash, when she fell and broke her shoulder. At the ER when they took her shirt off to exam her, the nurse noticed the lump in her breast right away, and asked her about it. My mom said she didnt realize it was there. Which I think was just her trying to cover up for the fact that while she knew about it, she didnt have insurance to do anything about it.
After doing a lot of calling around to get help for her, they started, Chemo and Radiation, just to make the lump small enough that they could safely remove her breast. Yes it was that big. A year later, they found Cancer cells popping up. So more Chemo, and then she was fine for a while. The drs said that since the Breast Cancer hadnt been taken care of soon enough it acted like a dandilion and blew Cancer seeds all over her body which would lay dormant for a while and pop up every now and then.
Then in the Spring of 2008, her back was hurting her really bad, so off to the dr she went and ended up in the hospital with a crushed spine. Due to the Chemo, and the Radiation, it had made her bones very brittle and easy to break if she moved wrong. They also found Cancer in her throat, Thyroid, remaining Breast and a rib. The drs were unsure of what to do for her, and after days of talking they decided to fix her back. After a nine hour surgery she had a metal "ladder" going up her back. and cement in her backbone. But they couldnt do anything about the Cancer, until she was healed up from surgery, so the Cancer had 3 more months to grow.
Three months later her left cheek was swollen, it was full of Cancer, so they had to do radiation on it. This burned her eye and she wasnt able to do things she loved anymore like read or play on the computer. The kids and I visited her everyday, and I can honestly tell you, I was so scared that I would go to her house and find her gone.

Finally in July of this year (09), the drs said that the Cancer Markers had gone up to much, even with the weekly chemo. There was nothing more that they could do. Hospic was called in and we all made sure she knew we loved her. She went from being able to go to the store with me, to not being able to walk to the bathroom in just a 2 week period of time. On Monday Sept 14th we moved her into a nurseing home. Her caregiver wasnt able to give her all the care she needed and it was just easier to have her where there was 24 hour care. We went and saw her everyday. On Wed, just 2 days after she got there, we were there joking with her about takeing up a new career in pole danceing as her roomate had a transfer pole by her bed, and it looked like a pole for danceing on. She talked about how nice the people were and how sweet her roommate was.
Then Thursday we went to see her, and she wasnt doing to good, so I asked her if she wanted us to come back later, she nodded yes, so I told the kids to say goodbye to nana, D, kinda did, but R refused to. She said, "He not my Nana!" and got scared and made me pick her up. A few hours later, the nurse called and told me that my moms O2 stats were down to 36,and they were supposed to be between 90 and 100. She said that we should come say our goodbyes as she has never seen anyone whos O2s were that low, that was alive. So I took the kids to my MILs, picked up our friend T and R and headed over to the home. We met my Uncle G there, who said that he had to leave the room and make sure that it was my mom in the bed, as she didnt look the same at all. And he was right, even in one day she looked so diffrent. Not like my mom at all. Friends and family came to tell her they loved her, and my BFF from high school came down from Salem to be with me, as well as my friend M from Portland. Unfortunatly my hubby was in Norway for a business trip. We went back to my house and cleaned floors till I couldnt clean anymore.and went to bed. At a little after 7 am, T who wouldnt leave moms side all night called and said we needed to get down there. So me and the 2 M's headed down with R in tow. About 10 minutes till 9 am on Friday Sept 18th God took my mom in his arms and took her home. She was surrounded by all of us telling her we loved her and that it was ok to go. She wasnt in anymore pain and now she is with my little sister.