Taking Care of My Mom Who Takes Care of Me: "Just Cancer"

Sunday, May 6, 2012

"Just Cancer"

My mom is not they typical patient. She does not have cancer in her family history. In fact, longevity runs in her blood.

But I know she's not the only person whose cancer diagnosis came as a shock. It's funny though, how people find it weird that she doesn't have any other health issues. And I also think it's very dangerous and misleading...the idea that if you are healthy, you are entirely safe from getting diagnosed.

Nurse: Do you smoke?
Mom: No
Nurse: Drink?
Mom: No
Nurse: Diabetes?
Mom: No
Nurse: Are you on any other medication other than chemo?
Mom: No

Nurse: So just the cancer, nothing else?
Mom: Yea

Isn't cancer enough?

1 comment:

RoselvrMay 9, 2012 at 2:08 PM
You really should say something about this & how they need to find better words. Not acceptable.
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About this blog

Before my mom was diagnosed, I did not know what an oncologist was. I could hardly pronounce “metastasis” let alone spell it. Like points on a map, we went from one specialist to the other, almost like the Amazing Race– finding the doctor and then heeding yet another set of directions on where to go next. I’m sure that all the doctors we had visited before understood “metastasis” and saw that it was detected through a distant node, distant being the operative word. Yet we still clung to the hope that we caught it in early. I kept telling myself that it didn’t touch the organs, completely ignorant of the fact that once it spread to a distant location, it was considered “incurable.”

One can go crazy thinking about the “what ifs” because we can’t go back and change time. We can only move forward. And take it day by day, or hour by hour, or minute by minute.

I hope to chronicle my dealings with the big C as a young caregiver, the highs and the lows, and the things that happen in between when life collides with cancer.

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Sunday, May 6, 2012

"Just Cancer"

1 comment: