Heather M.

I can't believe i am able to get up in the mornings. I miss my mom so much it is unbearable. plus we are already (mom has only been gone 16 days) dealing with legal battles resulting from my mom leaving almost everying to me in her trust. then there are days like today when she sends me some wonderful sign that i know she is here with me. my mom loved ladybugs! she had every ladybug piece of jewelry ever made and tons of stuffed animals etc. this morning i went outside with our shih tzu and sat down on mom's wooden bench. within a minute a ladybug landed on my slipper. i haven't seen a ladybug in months and this morning one landed on me!! that was mom. she has also been sending me voice mails (old ones that i had saved have been sent to me almost daily since she died.) i even called verizon to see if they knew why they were being sent and they are baffled. thank you mom for continuing to be the best mom in the world!!

My beautfiful mommy, Ruby E. Brannum, died on Friday, November 18, 2005. She was at home with her family by her side, just the way she wanted. I will be posting links to her obituaries in the Santa Maria Times and Coalinga Record as soon as I am able. Thank you for all of your support during this awful time.

It's been a while since i've posted. Life has been extremely crazy. We found out in July that we are expecting our fourth child and recently found out that it's a boy. That will even out our tribe (two boys and two girls). Anyway, no good news today. A week ago, my mom woke up confused and unable to put her words together. At the hospital they discovered 5 new brain mets. She met with her radiation oncologist and he said the words i've been dreading for 14 months-- "I'm sorry, but there's nothing else we can do." So, we called hospice on Friday and we are dealing with the reality that my mom is dying. She is in and out of coherency and only gets out of bed to use her bed side commode. And then only with assistance. The last count, she had 11 tumors visible thru her skin. I can only imagine how many she has inside. Please pray for my mom. So far her pain level has been managable. Thank you.

Hello to all- We found out on July 1st that my precious Mommy is in remission! The mass in her lymph nodes around her trachea are gone! The mass in her breast is gone! The mass in her abdomen is gone! AND the mets in her brain are gone! I am still on cloud nine. She has been through so much in the past 10 months with chemo, radiation, blood clots in her lungs, pneumonia, lack of appetite, nausea, extreme fatigue, etc. And to look at her today (the new picture is of she and I taken yesterday) you would just think she needs to get her hair dyed and put on about 5 pounds. The pale chemo palor has finally gone away and her energy level has improved greatly. I am so thankful to God for the blessings that he has bestowed upon us by healing my mom. I know that there is no "cure" for this dreaded disease that invaded my mother's body, but I truly believe that she's been healed. I will believe that until I see proof otherwise. Thank you so much for being there for me this past year. I will try to be better about checking in. I was so sad to hear about David C. He was such an awesome and inspirational man. I am so sorry for your loss Karen.

My mom finishes radiation on Friday and we are feeled with apprehension. I'm not sure what comes next and that scares me. Is there anything left to do if the radiation doesn't work? We are in the process of changing oncologists due to gross negligence (will explain later). We thank you so much for your prayers. On a brighter note, my husband and I will be celebrating our 8th anniversary on Sunday. Of course he has to work and we'll have to actually celebrate it on another day, our actual anniversary is Sunday. He is my best friend, my love, and my heart. I can't imagine going through all of this without him.

My mom had swollen feet and ankles for months. It's hard for me to pinpoint exactly when it started because everything kinda happened quickly and events overlapped each other. But, during the time that she had WBR and was on decadron she swelled a lot and gained 20 pounds. Most of this swelling was relieved when they started chemo because her superior vena cava syndrome was helped. She started chemo on the last day of her WBR and she was still on decadron. Her feet and ankles were so swollen that she couldn't even wear slippers. She was absolutely miserable. Her oncologist put her on lasix (40 mg once a day). This helped somewhat. Then 2 weeks later she doubled the lasix to twice a day and guess what?! Within a week all the swelling was down and hasn't come back since. Of course her doctors won't say exactly what it was (decadron, chemo, heart, etc.) but we were just glad to have it go away. Hope this helps.

I am praying for your Mom and your family.

My sister's doctor called her today and informed her that her chest x-ray from over a month ago (she was very sick and they wanted to rule out pneumonia)showed numerous unknown spots in her lungs!! They wanted to know if she'd had another x-ray done within the past 5 years. She had one done in 2001 so she's taking that in at noon tomorrow and her doctor is going to compare them and do a CT. She is 48 years old and has smoked off and on for 30 years. She is 18 years older than me and is like my second mom. When my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer, my sister said she knew she couldn't take mom's place in my life, but that she would be my mommy stand-in and grandma stand-in for my kids. She has a 28 year old son,24 year old daughter and 17 year old son. She also has four adopted children (14,10,8, and 6)that she is raising on her own. I am absolutely freaking out right now! I will not do this!!! I refuse to believe that there could even be a remote possibility that this is lung cancer!!! Please pray for my precious sister, Debbi.*** New picture is (from left to right) back row/brothers Jerry, Terry (yes, believe it or not they are twins!! ) my daddy, my brother Rick--middle row/my sissy Debbi, my angel mommy, Ruby, and me (Heather Diane aka "the baby") and front row/ my baby girl, Kaitlyn Diane, doing her best monkey face.

We got some wonderful news today!!!! The results of Mom's MRI were in today and guess what?! ALL BRAIN METS ARE GONE!!! I was expecting to hear bad news of course and when her oncologist read the results, I almost fainted. I have been on cloud nine all day long. There was evidence of a stroke (not sure how they know) but we had suspected that from day one. She had all the symptoms of a stroke in September when this all started. She is doing great now, but she struggles a lot with getting her thoughts together and remembering what she was going to say. She never remembers what medicines she's on and why. Good thing I'm in charge of that! Anyway, her doctor is leaving her on dilantin so I'm not sure about her driving again, but we'll ask her radiation oncologist on Monday. Thank you so much for always listening, sharing, praying, and caring. God bless you all!!

Summer- May God comfort you in this horrible time. I am so sorry for your loss.

Hi everyone- I think the shock of my mom's CT results (trachea mass growing) has worn off and now I am able to think rationally. Watch out!! It occurred to me that my mom's oncologist is trusting the radiologists report without having looked at the scans. Has anyone had experiences with the radiologists reports being wrong? He (the radiologist) also wrote that he thought my mom had lymphoma. I am really glad that her radiation oncologist will be looking at the scans and mri. Also, my mom finished her 6th cycle of chemo on Wednesday of one week and had the CT done on Tuesday of the next week. Couldn't the chemo still be working and the CT results not be accurate. Thanks once again to you all.

My mom's CT from two weeks ago showed an enlarged ovary (she had a hysterectomy in 1976 and her doctor left one ovary to prevent early menopause). When I asked her doctor if it could be the cancer spreading she said if it was then it was a new primary. But if you have heard that small cell can start in the ovaries, I'm curious. I will discuss this again with her other oncologist tomorrow and let you know if I find anything out.

Well, we had good news and bad news on Thursday. The good news was that the cancer hadn't spread to any other organs, etc. The bad news was that the mass in her lymph nodes around her trachea is getting larger. So, we have decided to do radiation. If anyone wants to let us know some of the things to expect, we would gladly appreciate it. Thanks to everyone for their continued prayers and support.

I haven't posted for a while because life has been crazy! But, I thought I would take a few minutes and catch you guys up. My mom just finished her 6th cycle of chemo on Wednesday and we were glad for the day. She was hospitalized in January with pulmonary embolisms (I know that there is a way to make that word plural ) Her oncologist didn't think she would be able to tolerate chemo any more because her lungs were so fragile. However, Mom proved her wrong and a week later had chemo session number 5. She is having CT scans and a MRI on Tuesday and we should have the results by Thursday. Please pray for her! Thank you to all of you. Even though I haven't posted, I try to read the new posts a few times a week. I am praying for everyone. Without you all, I would be lost right now. The new picture is my beautiful mom, my husband Bill, my 10 year old son David, my 9 year old daughter Brianna, and the blond haired 3 year old is our daughter Kaitlyn. God bless you guys and I will let you know how things go on Thursday.

My mom had WBR due to mets in her brain. That was in September and she is doing wonderful now. She wasn't experiencing the dizziness like your sister, but she did have a massive seizure and stroke like symptoms. If it sounds like their histories are similar and you want further information, feel free to email me. I will keep her in my prayers.