Sad News for My Family

[Professor]

Over the past few weeks my mom has been sick with phantom symptoms. She was admitted to the hospital and last sunday (Mother's Day oddly enough) we found out she has pancreatis cancer.

She is doing okay, scared but okay. She is resting a lot. They scheduled surgery for May 29th to remove it and galk at it. She is just waiting until then. She's also using it to get my dad to clean up the house, something which he's been putting off for years. :evil: After the surgery there will probably be chemo and radiation.

And for those of you who remember Wicca Witch (my sister, who was/is a member here) she isn't taking it well. She's very depressed and is spending most of her time in bed, either in hers or my moms.

I'm mostly avoiding her. We had a VERY big fight at Christmas and haven't been on speaking terms since then, the exception being occasional screaming matches. I'm letting my dad and some other relatives handle her, since I have a feeling I will just make it worse. Instead I am focusing all my attention on my other sister and helping her through this.

My next question, has anyone been through this on either my side or her side? What do we have to expect?

[lily]

I'm so sorry to hear that Professor. My thoughts will be with you......and I know I shouldn't say this, but I'll bet it would make your mother feel better if you and your sister just pretended to get along.

[BoogyMan]

I will be hoping for the best outcome for your mother and for your relationship with your sister as well.

[Buck Laser]

Professor, that IS a scary thing. But people can and do survive cancer. It's not necessarily a death sentence. I've survived two bouts of life-threatening cancer (colon in 1975, and leukemia in 2005), and I'm still here, though a little the worse for wear. Chicago is one of the best places in the world to be if you have cancer...Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights took care of my colon cancer.

I will keep you and your whole family in my thoughts.
Buck

[Professor]

Chicago is one of the best places in the world to be if you have cancer...Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights took care of my colon cancer.


We've heard that too, since there are so many hospitals, and universities with teaching hospitals. We're going to Loyola Hospital in Maywood, IL to the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center. It's the best one that the insurance covers that is also the closest to our house.

While I'm sure it would help her for us to pretend to get along, I don't think we could. The best we can do right now is glare at each other, not say anything and leave the other one alone. That's what we are currently doing...most of the time. Sometimes one of us will say something and the other one will get mad. It's been both of our faults. I think a lot of it is stress and also because we are both furious at the situation and still at each other.

[AlanC]

My sympathies and prayers are with you and your family.

[Pookie]

Ohhh dear. I am so sorry to hear this. You have my thoughts and prayers, and honey, do you still have my phone number? I'll be here for you. Bless you honey, I am so sorry to hear this.
Love,
Your Pookie

[Osborn F. Enready]

My heart is with you professor, and hopefully it can be caught in time and dealt with.

I lost my mother to cancer when she was 53 years old ( I was 18 ), but, more could have been done to prevent it or to extend her life, had we known of it in time.

My best advice is to look to and find strength in your family and friends, and try to overlook the areas where you don't get along, and focus on the things that bind you like love of the family, trust in family and faith in family. Sibling rivalry and disagreement is natural, but in times like this a family benefits from focusing on the love and responsibility they share to the family member in need, instead of petty arguing, disagreement and superficial issues. Blood is always thicker than water.

My heart is with you, and I wish your mom and family the best of luck.

[Trish]

Professor -

I'm sorry to hear about your mom and your family. I'll remember all of you in my prayers.

My grandmother had cancer surgery when she was 75. She had part of her pancreas removed, a kidney, 18 inches of her bowel, and her gall bladder. It was the same form of cancer in all those places and we don't know exactly where it started. The thing is she was 75 - had what amounts to 5 different surgeries (removing part of teh bowel involved a colostomy) rolled into one and she survived for another 15 years. She did very well - her bowel even healed itself!

So have faith. Miracles do happen.