In the beginning, Day 1 and 2

Wow, I have never blogged before but a friend said maybe I should to share what I have learned while I have been dealing with my mothers cancer, round 2. 3 years ago my mother was diagnosed with colon cancer. After the shock and awe, she had surgery and that was that. It was stage 1 and encapsulated. No chemo, no radiation. My mother was 77 then.

This past year she has been sick off and on, has had spotting and bad bowels. As drs go they of course treated her for 2 different problems. This is the major problem with specialists. A year ago she went to her gyn and he did a biopsy and ultra sound but found nothing. He told her to come back in 6 months if she still had the problem. As parents go of course she said nothing to me.

When we did go back to the gyn a year later they scheduled a D&C. In the mean time she began to have horrible pains in her stomach so we went to her GP. He ordered a blood test for cancer, did a stool sample and told her to take some fiber. The following Friday she had her D&C. On the following Monday we went back to her GP. He scheduled her for an appt with a gastro. dr as all her tests came back fine. Two days later her pain had gotten to the point that she could not stand it anymore so I drove her to the E.R.

Nine hours after we arrived at the emergency room she was admitted to the hospital. They did a C.T. scan and found a mass in her abdomen. I arrived home at 1:30am exhausted and was back at the hospital at 8am.

After talking with the admitting dr he informed me that he was sure she had cancer and it was bad. The dr was VERY unoptimistic(if thats a word) and the nurse was suggesting hospic. The dr then suggested we have her moved to another hospital where she could be seen by a gyn oncologist. That move happened at 10pm at night.

They moved her to the cancer floor at the hosptial but when I arrived they informed me they would be moving her to the women's floor as that was where the gyn preferred his patients. I spoke with the dr and he seemed somewhat optimistic about doing surgery but would do a full hystermecty, remove another mass, and a possible bowel resection. She had to come off her coumidin for 7 days before the surgery could happen. She was moved to the women's floor at 10pm at night. Then the wait began.