jersey_emt
Member
- :
- 04 MSM #1089
Some of you have probably noticed that I haven't been around much lately. It wasn't because I had lost interest in the community or whatever, it was because of my mom being sick.
My mother was diagnosed with stage IV esophageal cancer in November 2007. Over the next eight months she fought bravely and tirelessly. She truly thought she could beat it, and we all believed her.
The doctors treated the disease aggressively. After many rounds of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and laser therapy, and two surgeries, she started to make some headway against the cancer. The primary tumor had shrunk, and some of the secondary tumors (stage IV is when it has already metastasized) even disappeared, or were at least too small to be detected.
Things were good for a while. She was active, eating normally, and looked great. Everyone had plenty of good time, quality time, to spend with her. For that I am grateful.
Unfortunately over the past two to three weeks her condition worsened greatly. Scans showed extensive metastasis throughout her entire body. She was in a lot of pain, and made the decision to refuse further treatment other than palliative care Monday night (07/14). She was moved into hospice care Tuesday morning.
The hospice doctors and nurses began treating her pain and suffering just as aggressively as her oncologists treated her disease. Before they significantly increased her dose of morphine (she had already been receiving it for her pain), we all were able to talk with her for what we all knew may have been the last time.
Shortly after the morphine IV was increased to 5mg/hour (from 1mg/hr plus 0.5mg as needed, which she was given about every 1/2 hour), her level of consciousness was obviously affected. She became borderline unresponsive. We could tell she was still aware of who was around and what was going on. She was able to move her eyes a bit to look at whoever was talking to her, and blinked her eyes much more when someone was talking to her.
She hung on for 24 hours and took her last breath around 11:30AM yesterday. I had stepped out to grab something to eat at the cafeteria (the hospice is attached to the hospital she was being treated at), so I was not there when she did leave us, but she wasn't alone. My sister and uncle were both in the room, so she had her brother and daughter there at the very end.
We're all doing OK here. All the arrangements were made this morning, and she will be buried on Saturday in the family plot, right next to her mother and father.
I know Mazda Forums is a very diverse group with religious views from one extreme to the other. I ask that whatever you believe in, to say a short prayer, or to take a moment to put her in your thoughts.
And thanks for listening. It really means a lot to me.
-Justin
My mother was diagnosed with stage IV esophageal cancer in November 2007. Over the next eight months she fought bravely and tirelessly. She truly thought she could beat it, and we all believed her.
The doctors treated the disease aggressively. After many rounds of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and laser therapy, and two surgeries, she started to make some headway against the cancer. The primary tumor had shrunk, and some of the secondary tumors (stage IV is when it has already metastasized) even disappeared, or were at least too small to be detected.
Things were good for a while. She was active, eating normally, and looked great. Everyone had plenty of good time, quality time, to spend with her. For that I am grateful.
Unfortunately over the past two to three weeks her condition worsened greatly. Scans showed extensive metastasis throughout her entire body. She was in a lot of pain, and made the decision to refuse further treatment other than palliative care Monday night (07/14). She was moved into hospice care Tuesday morning.
The hospice doctors and nurses began treating her pain and suffering just as aggressively as her oncologists treated her disease. Before they significantly increased her dose of morphine (she had already been receiving it for her pain), we all were able to talk with her for what we all knew may have been the last time.
Shortly after the morphine IV was increased to 5mg/hour (from 1mg/hr plus 0.5mg as needed, which she was given about every 1/2 hour), her level of consciousness was obviously affected. She became borderline unresponsive. We could tell she was still aware of who was around and what was going on. She was able to move her eyes a bit to look at whoever was talking to her, and blinked her eyes much more when someone was talking to her.
She hung on for 24 hours and took her last breath around 11:30AM yesterday. I had stepped out to grab something to eat at the cafeteria (the hospice is attached to the hospital she was being treated at), so I was not there when she did leave us, but she wasn't alone. My sister and uncle were both in the room, so she had her brother and daughter there at the very end.
We're all doing OK here. All the arrangements were made this morning, and she will be buried on Saturday in the family plot, right next to her mother and father.
I know Mazda Forums is a very diverse group with religious views from one extreme to the other. I ask that whatever you believe in, to say a short prayer, or to take a moment to put her in your thoughts.
And thanks for listening. It really means a lot to me.
-Justin
