Seattle
From Saturday to Tuesday, I was in Seattle with my parents. It was a weekend of happiness, sadness, tragedy, and a sign of things to come.
About 2 years ago, my aunt was diagnosed with in the late stages of breast cancer. Long story short, one 14 hour surgery, several radiation and chemotherapy treatments later, the immiment danger had passed. But the whole experience left my aunt extremely weak and resolved to not go through the first two types of treatments ever again. The cancer was in remission, but there was no mention of when it would come back again.
Fast forward 1.5 years later. My aunt, having being sent back to the US after staying in HK for the max amount of time, found out that her cancer is back during a routine x-ray. And having elected not to undergo radiation or surgery, her life span can be described as a matter of weeks to months.
On Saturday, my parents, another aunt and I, went to Seattle to visit her and her family. My mom and the other aunt, having been trained in the medical field, were there to assess her situation and make sure that the US health care system was doing the best it can to help my aunt. The rest of us were there to say our goodbyes, if something should happen and we never saw her again.
Although I was appraised of the situation for the last 2 years, I never talked to her family during that time span. They were obviously busy so I ended up writing one email of encouragement throughout that time. So when I finally saw my aunt for the first time this weekend, I just couldn't believe how much...weaker she had become. Her eyes were still vibrant with life, but her body told another story.
Outside of all the medical-related things we had to do this weekend, I spent my time with my cousins and my aunt. Basically catching up on what happened with each other for the last 2 years. One of my cousins had it pretty rough. My cousin had to move twice to get closer to my aunt so that she could help take care of her.
The only tourist-y thing I did was visit the Space Needle and the surrounding amusement park area. The weather was shitty, so I ended up checking out their gift shops only. I didn't want to pay the $18USD fee to go to the Observation Deck where I would see MOAR rain. If I had more time, I would have checked out the Sci-Fi and Music museums.
Annnnnnnd thanks to Facebook, I finally learned that one of my classmates from high school, was found in the Fraser River. He was missing for the last month or so in what appeared to be a suicide. I talked to one of his classmates at SFU, and she told me of a completely different story about him. About how he was a nice guy, worked hard, etc. I guess it goes to show that anyone can be fooled. People don't have to show the classic symptoms that Guidance 8 always told us about depression. =P
This has not been a very good weekend.
P.S. I'll do those drawing memes one day.
P.P.S. I'm going to try and convince Annie to cosplay as Rhyme from The World Ends with You. If so, I'll do Beat.
About 2 years ago, my aunt was diagnosed with in the late stages of breast cancer. Long story short, one 14 hour surgery, several radiation and chemotherapy treatments later, the immiment danger had passed. But the whole experience left my aunt extremely weak and resolved to not go through the first two types of treatments ever again. The cancer was in remission, but there was no mention of when it would come back again.
Fast forward 1.5 years later. My aunt, having being sent back to the US after staying in HK for the max amount of time, found out that her cancer is back during a routine x-ray. And having elected not to undergo radiation or surgery, her life span can be described as a matter of weeks to months.
On Saturday, my parents, another aunt and I, went to Seattle to visit her and her family. My mom and the other aunt, having been trained in the medical field, were there to assess her situation and make sure that the US health care system was doing the best it can to help my aunt. The rest of us were there to say our goodbyes, if something should happen and we never saw her again.
Although I was appraised of the situation for the last 2 years, I never talked to her family during that time span. They were obviously busy so I ended up writing one email of encouragement throughout that time. So when I finally saw my aunt for the first time this weekend, I just couldn't believe how much...weaker she had become. Her eyes were still vibrant with life, but her body told another story.
Outside of all the medical-related things we had to do this weekend, I spent my time with my cousins and my aunt. Basically catching up on what happened with each other for the last 2 years. One of my cousins had it pretty rough. My cousin had to move twice to get closer to my aunt so that she could help take care of her.
The only tourist-y thing I did was visit the Space Needle and the surrounding amusement park area. The weather was shitty, so I ended up checking out their gift shops only. I didn't want to pay the $18USD fee to go to the Observation Deck where I would see MOAR rain. If I had more time, I would have checked out the Sci-Fi and Music museums.
Annnnnnnd thanks to Facebook, I finally learned that one of my classmates from high school, was found in the Fraser River. He was missing for the last month or so in what appeared to be a suicide. I talked to one of his classmates at SFU, and she told me of a completely different story about him. About how he was a nice guy, worked hard, etc. I guess it goes to show that anyone can be fooled. People don't have to show the classic symptoms that Guidance 8 always told us about depression. =P
This has not been a very good weekend.
P.S. I'll do those drawing memes one day.
P.P.S. I'm going to try and convince Annie to cosplay as Rhyme from The World Ends with You. If so, I'll do Beat.