My mom is 86 and was just diagnosed with stage three colon cancer. Given the choice between chemo or … not, she has chosen chemo! “I’m not ready,” she said.
So, my mom gives the cancer the big middle finger.
I hope I have your mom’s gumption when I’m 86! Best of luck to her, Tyler.
-Tom
Thanks. Though you showed plenty of inspirational gumption in your own battle!
Hey, it’s relatively easy to knuckle down and endure chemo when you’re a spry young 40-something!
But I won’t lie to you. Your mom is in for a tough time. Chemo at 86 is one of those movie moments where the doctor asks, “Is she a fighter?” On the brighter side, the crushing nausea that comes with chemo is really treatable these days. My oncologist told me that the chemo that I received for head-and-neck cancer used to be one hell of an ordeal where the patients stayed in bed for days at a time, next to a bucket. “They just vomited their heads off,” he said. I remember that he used that phrase.
But I had a mix of overlapping nausea medications where one would kick in as soon as another wore off. I hope your mother is made as comfortable as can be while the chemo does its work.
-Tom
Here’s to your mom, Tyler. Best of luck for a good recovery.
Just making the decision to fight is pretty awesome in its own right. Good for her. I wish you and your family much luck.
Good luck to your mom! Fuck cancer!
Good luck. Maybe you two can share a bowl together to help her with the chemo.
Or she could follow Jeff Session’s advice and just take a few aspirin or ibuprofen or whatever.
Happy thoughts headed your and your mom’s way and good for her for wanting to fight. I think that desire is what kept my wife going for as long as she did. Virtual hugs to everyone including those who continue to check in on this thread and offer support.
Wishing your mother the best. Love her attitude!
Thanks everyone. Truth is, I don’t think she has any idea how hard the chemo will be. But what do you do? Talk her out of it? Of course not. So, we’ll see how it goes.
But get your colon checked!
Best of luck to her, Tyler - I hope she’s able to fight it off!
Mom update – today they put in the port for the chemo, then she’s meeting in the morning with the oncologist. Then later tomorrow she’s having dental surgery, to get it done before the chemo starts. She said the chemo will probably start on Dec. 10, the day after her birthday.
She told me all this on the phone tonight, and sounded pretty upbeat. Then she told me something that made my jaw drop. The other day she got a phone call from a woman who had used some ancestry DNA site. Turns out the woman and my mom share grandfathers. The grandpa, it seems, had had an affair with a co-worker. The woman calling was the daughter of the son born of that affair (which would have happened probably 90-100 years ago). My mother never knew until now of the affair, nor of the offspring. And this new cousin had, as part of all this, located some other cousins that my mother had lost track of 50 years ago.
So my 86 year old mother, on the cusp of starting her battle against cancer, learns she has a first cousin. Or half-first cousin, or something. She was incredibly excited.
I can’t even.
That’s amazing, we had our own family moment due to this kind of thing too!
My Mom got a message from someone with a very close family hit. To make a long story short, my right-wing, religious zealot Aunt and Uncle dumped their “first” child in an orphanage 2 months before they got married. Then had another child, yep… 9 months later which they kept. Later adding 3 more.
The irony here, is this Aunt and Uncle are horrible people. They’re racist, xenophobic, hate gays, feel anyone who doesn’t think or worship like they do should be wiped off the face of the Earth. And they’re also anti-vaxxers. At any rate, turns out that wasn’t the end of it. She’d also had a kid in high school which they hid from their current 4 (5) kids. So the very people who are first to bring their religious authority down on those around them had a lot of skeletons in the closet. Their kids, who for 30-40 years thought they were it, actually have 2 more siblings.
That’s awesome! What a cool thing to divide your mom’s attention from a crappy situation.
My “family surprise” story has been moved to another - possibly more appropriate - thread.
Damn, does everyone have unknown family members? Mine is my older half brother, who my mom had before meeting my dad and gave up for adoption. My two younger brothers and I had no idea he existed growing up. My mom didn’t stay in contact at all until he did the searching and reached out to her when I was about 25. At the time,he was in Chicago and she was in Oregon…so she called me and asked if I would willing to make first contact. So that’s how I met my brother for the first time, complete with sister-in-law and nephew, before even my mom had met him (other than as a newborn).
Maybe? I don’t know any in mine (that may change.)
But I have several friends who have learned of unknown siblings recently. I think this is the flip side of easy DNA profiling and whatnot. Even if it isn’t DNA that proves things, parents of people now seem to be coming clean, perhaps due to better testing, or just perhaps that it’s finally the “greatest generation” that is now within this elder timeline and they are starting to spill secrets.
That’s the coolest thing I’ve heard all week! I think you’ve got a whole screenplay or novel here. Or at least a short story.
-Tom
edit: eh, I’ve thought better of it. Why crap up a perfectly good thread with my family drama? Anyway, best of luck to those of you with family members fighting cancer.