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Update on Cancer
13 years ago
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Ok wow uh, mom has had her biopsy and been to visit the oncologist.
Looks like mom is faltering between the different stage 3s. She has lobular
breast cancer which is more rare than the more common ductal breast cancer.
Doc said only about %10 of breast cancer is lobular. It's a sneakier cancer
because it wasn't detected on her last few mammograms, they had done
and ultrasound to final see the mass which is 8 cm big, which from what I
understand is very very big for breast cancer. Ductal cancer is the one most
people find because it creates that hard "lump" everyone is looking for, lobular
forms differently and much harder to detect, so she has most likely been living
with it for a long time.
Right now we are back in the waiting game, we have more answers now but it's
getting harder the closer we come to the truth because we still don't know if she
has any other cancer cells in her body. There is a test going to be done called
a PET scan and even though it's not 100% its going to be the closest confirmation
to if there is cancer else where.. and from what I understand that means it could
be incurable if it's spread throughout her body.
So.. now we wait for this pet scan result.. if it comes back bad I guess she might
be told an estimate on how long she might be living for, I'm not sure.
I didn't want to ask the doctor in front of her but I couldn't get a moment
to ask him alone.
I'm scared, shes scared and I have to pretend I'm not when I'm in front of her.
I'm trying not to think about it, keep busy, keep distracted and getting a
moment to think to myself tends to end up in tears
lol I didn't think I had any left.
i wish i could help in something
It's natural to be scared, and I could sit here and tell you not to be, to be positive but it's fine to be scared. You have every single reason to be scared. I wish I could say more, just be there for your mom. That's all you can do.
I hope she comes through all right
They can't honestly say how long someone lives, and they're almost never right. It's a big mind-game. You expect a doctor to know everything, and you get bad news and it sends a mental signal to your brain to cause your body to slow down and wait for the inevitable.
Don't LISTEN to it.
Your mom CAN get through this, but it takes not just tears of sadness but smiles of hope. You've got to stay strong and focused here.
I wish her all good thoughts and God's blessings.
I honestly have no clue what will happen down the line, but for now he's living regularly again, save for chemo/radiation visits, and I've been doing my best to not worry about what happens in the long run. Just spend as much time as you can with her, and let her know you'll always be a pillar of support for her. I do crazy things like wake up at 4 in the morning with my dad and staying with him in the hospital for his 7-9 hour chemo sessions, just so he won't be alone. Of course I can't do this every single time, but I do it every time I'm free.
Ultimately, your efforts might be the reason she'll be able to beat all odds, you never know.
so dont worry, im sure that in the end your mom will be fine!
If she's feeling good today, she'll probably still be feeling good tomorrow. Just try to make the most out of your time together, be it weeks, months or years, and don't leave any regrets.
It cannot cripple love.
It cannot shatter hope.
It cannot corrode faith.
It cannot eat away peace.
It cannot destroy confidence.
It cannot kill friendship.
It cannot shut out memories.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot reduce eternal life.
It cannot quench the Spirit.
~ Author unknown
No matter how bad it looks, never lose your courage or your hope. <3
My mom died very unexpectantly about two months ago, so this is close to home for me, and I've ended up crying reading your journals.
For what little it's worth, you're both in my thoughts and I wish you both the best.
Hoping for the best for you all over there and make the most of each day that comes, best not to spend the time worrying when its still up in the air~
Have strength sweetie, even when it seems you're exhausted and have nothing left to give, give a little more. If you ever need to just vent or anything, holler at me. I'm a good listener and can understand acting as a support for cancer as I've had to do it twice.
Have strength and faith <3
PET stands for Positron Emission Tomography. She'll breathe some oxygen isotopes that give off anti-matter electrons, (positrons), which will travel quickly to any part of her body that uses oxygen. (They might use a type of blood sugar made with radio-isotopes instead.) The positrons will react with normal electrons in her body and emit gamma rays -- don't worry, they won't let her get too big a dose, also the isotopes will decay quickly and be out of her system in short order -- which a detector will find. A computer will then take readings from the detector and use it to create a 3D image of her body. Anything that uses a lot of oxygen (or blood sugar) will show a higher reading. Cancer cells grow quickly, so they'll be using a lot of her body's resources and will show up brightly where quick-growing cells shouldn't be. With luck it'll only be that mass in her breast.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positr.....ion_tomography
I wish you both all the good luck there is.
Remember, being "weak" is as important as being strong in times like this.
Don't bottle your emotions up too much and don't be afraid to lean on others when you need to let them out.
You're both in my thoughts and prayers <3