Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Yesterday

Yesterday, was one of the roughest days I have had.  My sister was diagnosed in early November with cancer... again.  We were shock, it had been 30 years ago. At that time, she was pregnant with her only child.  She had cervical cancer, but because of the pregnancy it spread to her lymph nodes.  The doctors wanted to take the baby.  My sister refused.  After the birth, they immediately started radiation treatment, followed by chemo.  On her first chemo appointment, they overdosed her and she lost her hair in the parking lot. My sister was so sick.  The chemo was awful. They had to knock her out for the other treatments.

Today, that beautiful niece is 30. 

So, when the doctor called in the beginning of November, we ALL felt like we just experienced a horrific car crash.  She had surgery the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to remove her ovaries, tumor and 7 nodules. The doctor said that the tumor was a different looking tumor and that she would have to have some chemo, but we would know more after the pathology report.  They sent it to the Mayo clinic. She hadn't been eating, was depressed - sleeping all day.

Then, we got the call last Tuesday that it was Stage 3 ovarian cancer.  We weren't ready for that news.  But, SHE really wasn't ready for that news.  She has been angry, sad, mad at everyone.  Why her?  Why a second time.  The fear of going through chemo again, was worse than the fear of dying.  

She made a decision to fight through the chemo, still being angry.  I took her to her first chemo,  It took me 2 hours, patiently waiting for her to get ready to get in the car.  When we got to the clinic, we would walk a little to a bench or chair and she would rest, then repeat it until we got to the door.  I hated seeing her hurt this much, but I was holding it together - for her.  We got her all settled into the chair and the wonderful chemo nurse explained all the medicines.

My sister and I held each other's hands and cried when they started the chemo medicine.  

She kept waiting for the side effects, she didn't have any.

She waited to start feeling horrible and throwing up, like the last time - it didn't happen.

When it was over, she said she was starving.  I think the extra fluids helped her.  I got her something to eat on the way home and she ate all of it.  We thought she would get sick, it didn't happen. By the time, we got home (a 2 hour drive) - she said that this chemo was 100 times better than the last time. 

I hope that she did well last night, I will check on her this morning.  We made it through the first step for her healing.


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