My mothers story

[Haylee_38]

For about a year prior to my moms diagnosis she had been in to see her family doctor several times for neck pain. He assumed it was arthritis and treated her as such. In mid July of 2002 she began feeling nausea on a daily basis and a numb feeling in her right hand. Moms regular doctor was on vacation and she seen his partner. Mom really liked this doctor alot instantly. He took action and ordered her a cat scan believing it may be her colon. My grandmother was a colon cancer survivor and some of moms symptoms had us believing she may have colon problems. On the day of moms cat scan the first week of August 2002 before she even made it home from the hospital { 5 to 10 minutes } her doctors office called. They wanted to see her in two days. We knew then something must be wrong. She was determined in her mind she had colon cancer and was preparing herself for the fight. Mom came to my house after leaving the doctors. She said we needed to sit and talk the butterflies in my stomach were going faster than I had ever felt them before. Mom had a sense of humor she said I have good news and bad news. The good news is my colon looks fine. The bad news is there are spots on both lungs, my liver, kidney and the doctor believes its cancer. The next step was to see a pulmologist { spelling ? } and go from there. The end of August 2002 mom seen the pulmonlogist and he ran some test. Then do to I believe it was very low blood gas levels was put in the hospital the same night. The doctor said since she was already there he would do the biopsy. My sister had flew home from Las Vegas and we waited for which seemed like forever for the results. He told us it was final stage and she may have 6 to 8 months. He was then turning her over to the oncologist and said if they offer any trials to definatly say yes. Mid Sept. 2002 was moms first appointment with the oncologist. He was blunt and said she could do Chemo but, it would only prolong her life maybe a few months.He suggested calling in hospice but,it would be her choice. Mom chose to try the chemo but, it did not work. In mid December she deceided it was time for hospice. Her final three months had alot of bad times in seeing her decline. There were still good times and as her care giver we spent alot of quality time just talking. On March 18th, 2003 my mom passed on with me by her side holding her hand. Also wanted to add the neck pain that she had been dealing with for over a year before diagnosis was found to be cancer not arthritis.