turambar85
01-03-2007, 06:03 PM
...was diagnosed with class three uterine cancer this morning. Luckily it had not spread to any other organs, but it has been left uncheck, raging through her uterus, for 4-5 years now, as she has refused to go to the doctor until a few days before Christmas when she started bleeding so badly that she passed out.
They have put the treatment as chemotherapy and radiation treatment, and the prognosis is a 50/50 shot at survival.
She is, to me, not just a grandmother, but much more like a second version of my mom. I spent the first week of my life living with her because my mom was too poor. I spent the night at her house at least 1 day a week until my 17th birthday. I went to visit her at her beauty shop (which she owns and runs) on an almost daily basis for a long time, and spent most of my childhood there.
The worst part of the situation is not just the cancer and what it means to her physically, but what it means to her emotionally. She has always been the source of inspiration, courage, and love amongst our family, as she lives with her husband, and 32 year old crippled daughter. Three days a week now, as she is semi-retired, she dresses, changes, and carried my aunt to her wheelchair, rolled her out to the car, carried her out of the car into her wheelchair, and kept her with her at her beauty shop. The other days of the week she still changed, dressed, bathed, and carried my aunt and took her on dates, to the mall, etc. She made this her life.
Her husband has been slowly deteriorating, despite being in his early 60's. He is on multiple daily medications, including prozac and nerve pills. He goes to sleep, and demands silence, at 8:00 every night, and wakes up at 5:30. He says that he does not want family visiting the house often because of his nerves, and when we are able to go, we have to limit conversation to topics that he is comfortable with.
My grandmother is a different person away from her job. It gave her a sense of independence and livelihood. A place where she was able to be herself, say what she wanted, and visit with her family. Every penny that she made went to groceries for her family, and money to help out my mother and I. She would give me money to help get through college, sometimes over $100 a week, and she would help my mom by buying a large portion of her groceries as well. She worked to help others, and to escape, and it was her greatest source of joy.
I am not sad because I lose my support, damnit I couldn't care less. But I mentioned that to show the way that she has lived, and what a source of hope her job provided her with. And now, even if she survives, she will be forced into retirement, which her husband feels is long overdue, and stuck in a home, sick from chemotherapy, where she does not feel comfortable, and can not truly enjoy the company of her loved ones.
If any of you pray, please do because there is nobody more undeserving of what she is experiencing, and very few people who would be more destroyed by prolonged treatment.
Thank you for your thoughts.
They have put the treatment as chemotherapy and radiation treatment, and the prognosis is a 50/50 shot at survival.
She is, to me, not just a grandmother, but much more like a second version of my mom. I spent the first week of my life living with her because my mom was too poor. I spent the night at her house at least 1 day a week until my 17th birthday. I went to visit her at her beauty shop (which she owns and runs) on an almost daily basis for a long time, and spent most of my childhood there.
The worst part of the situation is not just the cancer and what it means to her physically, but what it means to her emotionally. She has always been the source of inspiration, courage, and love amongst our family, as she lives with her husband, and 32 year old crippled daughter. Three days a week now, as she is semi-retired, she dresses, changes, and carried my aunt to her wheelchair, rolled her out to the car, carried her out of the car into her wheelchair, and kept her with her at her beauty shop. The other days of the week she still changed, dressed, bathed, and carried my aunt and took her on dates, to the mall, etc. She made this her life.
Her husband has been slowly deteriorating, despite being in his early 60's. He is on multiple daily medications, including prozac and nerve pills. He goes to sleep, and demands silence, at 8:00 every night, and wakes up at 5:30. He says that he does not want family visiting the house often because of his nerves, and when we are able to go, we have to limit conversation to topics that he is comfortable with.
My grandmother is a different person away from her job. It gave her a sense of independence and livelihood. A place where she was able to be herself, say what she wanted, and visit with her family. Every penny that she made went to groceries for her family, and money to help out my mother and I. She would give me money to help get through college, sometimes over $100 a week, and she would help my mom by buying a large portion of her groceries as well. She worked to help others, and to escape, and it was her greatest source of joy.
I am not sad because I lose my support, damnit I couldn't care less. But I mentioned that to show the way that she has lived, and what a source of hope her job provided her with. And now, even if she survives, she will be forced into retirement, which her husband feels is long overdue, and stuck in a home, sick from chemotherapy, where she does not feel comfortable, and can not truly enjoy the company of her loved ones.
If any of you pray, please do because there is nobody more undeserving of what she is experiencing, and very few people who would be more destroyed by prolonged treatment.
Thank you for your thoughts.