So, it has been almost a year since I have blogged. We have had lots of excitement and craziness in our lives. In April, my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a huge lump on her left breast about 7 cm. Mark and I helped her and my dad move up to
In August, we received a nice surprise. We found out that we are expecting our 5th child. We are so excited. My due date is March 26th. We found out it is a GIRL!!! We also received some bad news. My Mom had some routine blood tests done and they found something abnormal. So we took her in to get a CT Scan and a Bone Scan. The Bone Scan came back fine, but they found something in her liver and her lungs. She was asked to come in the next day. That night I couldn't sleep at all. I kept having dreams about what they were going to tell us. My worst nightmare came true. The doctor showed us the CT Scan. My Mom had two lesions in her liver. One was quite large. Then she went to the lungs. Her lungs were covered in tumors. I asked the doctor, "How long she had to live." She said, "At least 6 months." We were in shock. As far as we knew everything was fine. She was given the option to do a chest x-ray and then watch what happens. If the tumor get better or stay the same. She could also have a biopsy to find out what kind of cancer it was. She decided to do the chest x-ray and wait. Teresa and I were in denial and kept hoping that there was some other reason for her chest to look that way. I researched anything that might make sense. I didn't want to admit that my Mom was going to die. Mom decided a couple days later that she wanted to know what kind of cancer it was, since she already had breast and uterine cancer. She did the biopsy and we went back for the results. We found out that it was indeed breast cancer and it was very aggressive. She probably had it for over a year, but didn't know it. She was given 3 options:1) she could do nothing, 2) she could take Xeloda, a oral chemo drug, or 3) she could have an intravenous drug. She chose the oral drug because she didn't want her grandkids to watch her sick and lose her hair. She took the Xeloda for two weeks and felt fine. Then she was supposed to wait a week. During that week, she was very sick. She was put on oxygen. We had her use the oxygen at night when she was sleeping. She decided that she would get off the Xeloda. On Halloween, she was really sick. She hadn't eaten or drunk anything in a few days. She looked awful and wasn't really even talking. Teresa and I convinced her to go to the hospital. They admitted her into Acute Care and pumped her with some fluids. She was very dehydrated and in a lot of pain. The doctors gave her some pain medicine. By the time, we left the hospital she was doing a lot better. She kept worrying about Teresa and I missing Halloween with our kids. We told her that our husbands would be fine. (She was always thinking about everyone else. She never thought about herself.) She started to seem like she was getting better. A couple weeks later, she wasn't able to get out of the bathtub. Her legs just kind of stopped working. We moved her and my dad up to Teresa and Matt's room where we could wheel her into the shower. About a week later, she was really swollen and retaining water. So we convinced her to go to the hospital. Shauna, Debra, Patty and Teresa took her and stayed home with my kids. I got a call telling me that Mom was having a heart attack. I didn't know if I would make it in time. She decided to have them put three stints in her arteries. She had a 100%, 90% and 2 80% blockages. They told us that it would be touch and go and that she might make it through the week. She told everyone that she couldn't leave until all her kids got to
