Mom and breast cancer
Mom is undergoing 4 rounds of chemo in order to shrink and better define the edges of her breast tumor. Her first round 3 weeks ago: she said she felt kind of shaky, but was largely OK.
Thursday was her 2nd round. Her hair is all gone now. She only got out of bed this weekend for necessities (and this is not an overly woe-is-me person...this is someone who is used to being able to take care of herself and finds being sick really boring).
To me, and I think her, the worst part is the need for being alone throughout this whole ordeal. Her white blood cell count is extraordinarily low (apparently a common side effect), so none of those who know her want to be anywhere near her, just to be safe. Another side effect of the chemo: she smells bad. She said she's taking 2-3 baths a day and still can't stand herself. She's sweating all the time, and the smell of the chemo coming out of her pores is apparently pretty rank. So she's only leaving the house when she knows she won't really come in contact with anyone. For 2 months all told, that has got to be made of suck.
But she's almost certainly going to live through this. They might not even have to do a lumpectomy...the first round shrunk the tumor noticeably. She might get out of the 4th round of chemo. She will probably have her hair back by Xmas. It could be worse.
I find all this interesting in an educational sort of way. I now know some of the process, should I ever have to face this myself. And the odds are, unfortunately, well stacked in cancer's favor, considering how much of it there's been in my family. Not much else outside of high cholesterol and blood pressure, but buckets of cancer.
It's also got me thinking more about what to do with my own lifespan. But death and cancer can still blow me.
Thursday was her 2nd round. Her hair is all gone now. She only got out of bed this weekend for necessities (and this is not an overly woe-is-me person...this is someone who is used to being able to take care of herself and finds being sick really boring).
To me, and I think her, the worst part is the need for being alone throughout this whole ordeal. Her white blood cell count is extraordinarily low (apparently a common side effect), so none of those who know her want to be anywhere near her, just to be safe. Another side effect of the chemo: she smells bad. She said she's taking 2-3 baths a day and still can't stand herself. She's sweating all the time, and the smell of the chemo coming out of her pores is apparently pretty rank. So she's only leaving the house when she knows she won't really come in contact with anyone. For 2 months all told, that has got to be made of suck.
But she's almost certainly going to live through this. They might not even have to do a lumpectomy...the first round shrunk the tumor noticeably. She might get out of the 4th round of chemo. She will probably have her hair back by Xmas. It could be worse.
I find all this interesting in an educational sort of way. I now know some of the process, should I ever have to face this myself. And the odds are, unfortunately, well stacked in cancer's favor, considering how much of it there's been in my family. Not much else outside of high cholesterol and blood pressure, but buckets of cancer.
It's also got me thinking more about what to do with my own lifespan. But death and cancer can still blow me.