Well, it all went to hell in a handbasket two days after the wedding. My mom, was diagnosed with cancer. She had stage 2 lung cancer in her left lung and 2 tumors in the lung and 1 tumor in the brochia. She got a lung infection in July and was put on a vent. She miraculously came off and continued on with chemo and radiation, both very successfully, by early October her prognosis was very good. The cancer had receded from the lung. On the x-ray you could see black on the lung was now clear and the tumors which showed big and white the bronchia tumor was gone, and the one tumor had stayed the same, but the other had shrunk by about 70%. The doctor's were going to give her a few weeks to recover from the first round and then begin a second round in hopes of anihilating it altogether.
On September 25, 2008, my grandmother Renee passed away at the advanced age of 95. She had been in failing health for a couple of years, but still was pretty darn sharp all things considered. She had taken a fall at her nursing facility and fractured her pelvis and that was the beginning of the end. Although we expected it at some point, due to her age, we were still sad to say goodbye to the patriarch of the family. She was cremated and buried with my grandfather. Her funeral was held on October 20th, because she was in Texas and the family is in NJ, so it took time to coordinate it all.
On October 21st, my grandmother's brother Tom, had a stroke. He was 85 at the time and as he has never married, my aunt who had just landed at home in Louisiana, said she would fly back if need be. He was stable and would survive, so I told her to relax, I'd keep an eye on him.
However, the next day on October 22nd, my mother's lung collapsed. I called my aunt, her sister and she flew back from Louisiana. Now mind you, she had been flying back and forth between New Orleans and NJ and Texas since June between my mother's health and my grandmother's. They put my mother on a vent again, and reinflated the lung. After a few days they said they would have to remove the vent and that she may possibly die. With the vent removed they were able to do clear x-rays again and the news was poor. The cancer had spread to the right lung and was fully engulfed. The tumor was back in her bronchia and she would not survive the week. They said she wouldn't awaken again, my step father was bereft and so badly wanted to talk to her. I told him that she knew he loved her and she loved him and talking now wouldn't change that. Still the next day, November 5th at 9:00 a.m. she opened her eyes and asked what happened. I held her hand and told her gently of the past days sad news and the doctor's prognosis. We wept and exchanged kisses and whispered I love you's and she rattled off the needed information on what she wanted me to have, which at the time seemed such a waste of air, but I listened patiently and told her I knew and not to worry. She then asked for the my step father and my brother and her brother. She talked to her sister a while and then my step father arrived with my brother. He was sooo excited that she was awake. He kissed her and she said, "You didn't shave." disapprovingly. We all laughed as he had been so anxious to talk to her and this was what he got, poor man. Then my brother talked to her and she told him to start taking better care of himself for his kids. He promised he would. And after a while she dozed back off to sleep.
My son and his wife, and the rest of the stepkids went up to visit and left at 11:00 p.m. The hospital called our home at 11:30 p.m. to tell us she had passed away and that we could come back to say goodbye. She was 65 years old.
In March, of this same dreadful year, my assistant Gina made some copies and got a viscious headache. She went home and had a seizure. A few x-rays and a petscan later she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, 2 tumors in her brain and a tumor on her uterus. She had been struggling with her illness at the same time my mother was. They had zapped the brain tumors with radiation successfully, but the chemo did not stop the lung cancer, by mid October it had spread into her hips and bones. She died on November 26th. She was 39 years old.
The sadness would continue into the beginning of 2009. Another co-worker, was killed on the job and a retired co-worker and father of a friend succumb to cancer as well, and a third co-worker committed suicide. I was numb with grief for most of the past six months. It has been a very long sad year.
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