Friday, October 31, 2008

Rob is Coming Home!

Just found out this morning that my brother is coming in from Florida for Mom's surgery! Thank you, God! Mom will be so excited when she finds out! Now she will have everyone she loves the most (with the exception of her daughter-in-law and Britt's boyfriend) there with her at the hospital. She will have a whole entourage of family to boost her spirits and get her through this!

Thank you, Laura, for getting my brother up here. You are an angel on earth, sweetie!

Plan on keeping Mom busy this weekend. At least the Steelers are playing on Monday night, which should keep her mind occupied a little bit.

Keep praying...............................

Mo

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

6 More Days..........

Mom went to see Dr. Simon yesterday; her final visit with her prior to surgery. I think that Dr. Simon helped to ease Mom's mind a bit. She told her that this surgery would be much easier than going through the chemo.

Your thoughts and prayers are needed more than ever for Mom. I truly believe that she doesn't realize just how strong she really is, but she still needs our prayers to get her through this. She has received so many cards and well wishes, as well as prayers. She is overwhelmed by all of the wonderful support she has received thus far. Keep it coming; it brightens her day so much.

Either myself or Brittany will post after surgery to let you know how everything went.

Maureen

Friday, October 24, 2008

11 Days Until Surgery

As of today, Mom has 11 days until surgery. She is very anxious about it, to say the least. Her last chemo treatment went well. She & Dad bought May's Donuts for the girls at Dr. Simon's office that day. On Saturday the 11th, Dad & I had run to the grocery store for a few things and when we got home, I gave Mom a hug and she was burning up. I insisted she take her temperature and it was 101.4, which is not a good thing for a chemo patient. I immediately called the Dr. They advised me to take her to the emergency room. Mom did not want to hear of it. She started crying and saying she wouldn't go. No way no how. I called my brother in Florida to talk to her and help coax her into going. She absolutely hates Jameson Hospital, so I told her I would take her to any hospital she wanted to go to, but she was GOING! Well, we ended up riding to Jameson "just to see if they were buys" as Mom put it. There were only a few cars there, so we ended up going in. They took her right away and when they found out she was a cancer patient who had just had chemo earlier in the week treated her like gold. Too bad you have to have cancer for them to treat you that good!

They put her into a room by herself to avoid germs as much as possible. Dr. Gero came in and examined her. He orderd a chest x-ray, bloodwork and a urine sample. Her chest x-ray was good, her blood work was good, but she ended up having a urinary tract infection. They gave her a prescription for Cipro and gave her the 1st dose before we left. Dr. Gero is by far the most genuine, caring doctor I have met in that emergency room. He took such wonderful care of Mom, and explained everything to us in detail. Plus, I had him on my side, as I got him to tell her that she was right to listen to me and go to the ER. he told us if we had waited until the next day, she probably would have been admitted, as the infection would have been that much worse and her blood counts would have been affected.

I exclaimed a great big "I TOLD YOU SO" to Mom. I loved it, as I heard that so many times as a child. ha ha

One thing about my mama is that she has maintained her sense of humor throughout this whole ordeal. Let's hope that continues when it is time for surgery.

She is scheduled for November 4th, but we won't know what time until Monday Nov. 3rd. I will have that entire week of work, so that I can help take care of her. She will come home with 2 drains that we will have to empty and measure. She will also have to have sponge baths, as she won't be able to get her incisions wet. We watched an online movie describing the procedure. She cried after watching it. Losing a breast is a very difficult thing for a woman to experience. I don't care what age you are, it is a traumatic event. She is NOT looking forward to it.

We were looking at fake boobs in magazines the other night..........I was trying to make her laugh, as some come with nipples and some don't. She said she wants the "Cadillac" of fake boobs!

First we will get through her surgery; then we will search high and low for a "cadillac boob". Only the best for my mom. :)

Still don't know if my brother is coming up from Florida for the surgery or not. Britt will be coming up from Pitt to Cranberry, so it will be Dad, Britt & I at least. WE are going to load Dad up with crossword puzzles that day while Mom is in surgery. It can be anywhere from 2 hours +. Hopefully it will be the shorter of the time frames.

Thank you again for the prayers. Mom appreciates it more than you know. We love all of you.

Maureen

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Mom only has 1 more chemo treatment to go! Tuesday October 7th is the last one. Yipee! Next is strenthening her for surgery. I moved in with Mom & Dad............financial issues and to help out them through the war, as we call it.

Mom's spirits have been low. She has been content to basically lounge all day long. She gets worn out just going to the store these days. She is extremely nervous about surgery, as I have stated before.

She is constantly worrying about that day and how quickly she will recover. Dad is showing the signs of worry, as well. My brother & I were talking when he was up for a visit and said that Dad has seemed to age more during this process than Mom.

Mom doesn't have to see the surgeon prior to surgery, so I guess we just wait for the phone call to let us know what time to show up at the hospital on November 4th. While this country awaits the news of who the next President will be, Mom will be fighting with everything ounce of energy she has. And we will be right by her side.

It is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. One of my co-workers brought me in a bagel for my mom yesterday. It was shaped like a pink ribbon. :)

Please purchase items that give proceeds to breast cancer research! It seems as if there is pink everywhere! It is great to see, but it would be so much nicer if a cure could be found.

There really isn't much else to report. Mom keeps going each day and tries to remain positive. The "why me?" question pops up quite frequently, but she has resolved to fight the fight.

Thanks for all of your prayers.

Mo