How my 1 week trip turned into a month long trip

As most of you have noticed my blog entries have been erratic to say the least. I'm ready to explain. For the last 2 months or so my mother has been eating ice by the 10 pound bag (literally). So when my mom went to her doctor I told her to make sure she mentioned the ice eating to him. She said she'd humor me and tell him. I assumed it was just anemia like I had while I was pregnant. They put me on iron pills and it was all good. Well, it was a bit more than that. My mom's doctor ordered a few tests due to the ice eating. One of which was a colonoscopy. The day of my mother's colonoscopy my daughter and I were having lunch and my mom called and told me they found cancer. Just the word cancer makes you freak out and think death.

So her doctor quickly scheduled an appointment for her to meet with a surgeon. He explained everything to us. He explained that they'd be taking a portion of her colon and reconnecting everything. THEN he tells us he's booked 3 months out. THREE MONTHS!!! The idea of having my mom wait 3 months with cancer growing in her bod didn't sit well with me. Seeing the look on my face he quickly made a joke about finding an operating room on ebay and doing the surgery ASAP. Laughing made me feel a bit better. So we went home and waited. Thankfully the wait wasn't that long. The surgeon's office called two days later and said my mom was scheduled for surgery the following week. They said they wanted to get the mass out while it wasn't big and hadn't spread. Which of course is a good thing.

Off to California we go! The plan was for her to have her surgery we'd stay in Ca for a week and then she'd come home with me. Well it didn't really work out like that. The surgery went very well but the recovery was a different story. My mom developed something called ileus*.  She went to her regular doctor who did a few x-rays and sent them over to her surgeon for her appointment the following day. By this point my mother hasn't been able to keep any food down since being released from the hospital. We arrived at her surgeon's office and he asks what we were doing there. My mom said she had an appointment. He asked her if she'd checked her voicemail. She of course said no. Turns out he'd called the day before after seeing her x-rays and said go right to the ER to be admitted. OK by this point I'm scared. They immediately take her and put her into a bed. An hour later they finally got her into a private room. They had to put a tube down her nose to suck out everything that wouldn't "come out". After the tube was in for a few days the doctor finally said everything was out and they could remove the tube. They made her stay a couple more days after that than she was released. We stayed a few more days just to make 100% sure she was ok. During our trip her surgeon called and said the pathologist found NO cancer in any of the lymph nodes which means no chemo or radiation. The surgery got ALL of the cancer. Praise the Lord.

So that's what my family has been dealing with for the last month or so. I apologize for my lack of posts but I'm home and things should be getting back to normal....or something close to it.


Oh and I'd like to add that my tiny human was a real trooper through it all. After mom's surgery I explained grandma couldn't pick her up and she totally listened. I'm so very proud of her.

*Ileus : Inability of the intestine (bowel) to contract normally and move waste out of the body.

Grandma and grand baby leaving the surgeon's office 

Waiting for grandma

Waiting for grandma during her surgery.

Reading in grandma's hospital room after surgery