Hello,
My name is Jassen. My wife suggested that maybe I check one of these forums out since I have no real support through friends elsewhere.
On October 9th, I took my mother to the ER after she fell twice in the same day in my presence. A tumor was found on the left frontal lobe of my mother's brain (a biopsy was conducted). From there, a cat scan was done and a small nodule was found on her lung. She was released from the hospital after 6 days.
She was put on steroids and an anti-seizure medication as well as Prilosec. Five days later her primary care physician informed us that she had lung cancer. In the meantime, her energy was low and her balance was off. She also was experiencing more and more seizures.
A week later, she was scheduled to go to cancer care and a few days it was decided that she would begin radiation for 10 minutes 5x weekly and after 6 - 8 weeks she would beging chemotherapy for her lung.
My mother lives with me, my wife, and our daughter. I am experiencing lots of anger and rage. I feel very alone and understand my wife cannot shoulder my emotions. My father died in 2006. I have no siblings and I have no other family members to lean on. Two close friends have died in the last 3 years. I am 35 years old.
This is the beginning of the second week of radiation treatment and her symptoms are getting worse. She cannot walk very far due to seizures and her memory is getting worse. She also is complaining that her eyes are not adjusting at times.
The symptoms were so confusing. From our standpoint, it looked as if my mother was getting depressed. She began lacking energy and motivation. She insisted she was fine and sometimes complained of having "dizzy spells."
My mother is stage 4 and has been given about 12 months to live with treatment or 6 months without. It was devastating to get that information last Thursday and then watch my daughter and mother embrace and cry real tears of pain.
I am very close to my mother and my heart is broken. I cry a ton which is very unusual for me. Not sure how to deal with all of this.
Thanks for listening,
Jassen