Blog in honour of my Stepmom

by jgnat 69 Replies latest jw friends

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  lisaBObeesa

  Hello,

  I just wanted to let let you know I am following this thread and saying prayers for you and your mother. You can put a little dot on northern California near the coast on your map! :)

  My SIL has just completed a difficult year fighting a rare cancer...she had major surguries, radiation and huge chemo for a year. Now it is wait-and-see time. And as always, enjoy-each-moment time.

  Always remember:

  What Cancer Can't Do

  Cancer is so limited ...
  It cannot cripple love.
  It cannot shatter hope.
  It cannot corrode faith.
  It cannot destroy peace.
  It cannot kill friendships.
  It cannot suppress memories.
  It cannot silence courage.
  It cannot invade the soul.
  It cannot steal eternal life.
  It cannot conquor the Spirit.

  I love that poem. It is so true.

  Take care and I hope you get over your cold soon!

  -LisaBOBeesa
• 

  jgnat

  Thanks, Lisa. I will forward that poem to my mom. I am sure she will like it!
• 

  jgnat

  I called Myrna last night, her spunk is back! She is spittin? mad at the doctors, as they have been pussyfooting around, not telling her everything about how sick she is. She finally got a doctor today who was straight with her and told her all that is going on. The cancer is on her bone somewhere. It is also on or in her lung somewhere. She says, the other doctors have been sugar-coating it, and she hates that. She figures they are afraid to deal with a grieving patient. ?If I cry it is just too goddamn bad. Give it to me straight.? she says. Myrna loves this new doctor for being straight with her.

  With this new chemo, which she gets every three weeks, her resistance will be very low. We don?t know when her ?bad? time will be, last time it was 5-7 days after the treatment. That would mean this next weekend. No visitors with sniffles, no one at all!

  Myrna is wrapping up the loose ends around the Christmas season, buying necessary gifts, and allowing her daughter to take care of Christmas dinner. I will play it by ear, and visit her when I am ?clean? and she is on a good day.
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  jgnat

  I just heard from Dad last night, Myrna is back in the hospital since this last Sunday. She has more fluid buildup around her lungs, and the hospital could not do the same procedure as last time. Anyhow, they found another way to drain the fluid (her other side this time) just Tuesday, so she finally was able to take a decent breath. But the chemo has wiped out her energy and her immune system. She is very tired, weak, and vulnerable.

  Dad is at her side, doing what he does best. I wait in the sidelines, wondering how I can help.
• 

  bebu

  (((((jgnat))))) It hurts to feel helpless.

  Thanks for keeping us posted about your mom. I can't help smiling when I read what she's said. What a gutsy gal. !!

  ((((((HUGS))))) to your mom and dad. And a prayer as well for courage and comfort.

  bebu
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  jgnat

  Thank you, Bebu. I am glad you see in my mom what I do! What I didn't share is that I confronted dad with the one thing Mryna wants to be sure is taken care of before she passes away. Dad doesn't want any memorial at HIS death. She thinks this is wrong; us children should have a time to grieve and reminisce. So I scolded him last night, when he was on HIS own last thread, when HE was fed up with Myrna bugging him about whether he is eating properly.

  "I know how to feed myself." and, "This is a very bad time to bring that up, NO." "And if you bring it up again, you will need lots of insurance, because I will have to go over there and slug you!" and he laughed. My dad! So serious. Such a weird sense of humor.

  Funny, I have always been very nervous about going up against my dad, but my mom hasn't. I bet he figured he would be off the hook, then he gets it both barrels from me! I won't let Myrna down.
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  jgnat

  Myrna is not doing so good. There is cancer in the middle of her brain. It is affecting her speech and other things.

  Oh, I will miss her so much....
• 

  blondie

  jgnat, I was looking at the pictures from our trip and there you all were that day in the conservatory.

  I think that is why the idea of cards is good, it is more permanent, she can take them out and re-read them again and again.

  Love, Blondie

  Hugs to you and your family.
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  jgnat

  Which reminds me, I gotta help my hubby get his pics off the camera. Yes, I will make something nice for her to show her.

  Dad says family seems to show up all at once, all on a Sunday afternoon. He says HORDES is not good. LONG VISITS is not good. He says he gets angry more often now, for no good reason. At least he knows why and he knows he is doing it.
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  Will Power

  (((((( jgnat )))))) (((((( myrna ))))) Thinking of You WP