Long Overdue Thank You and Explanation

Thank you to everyone who has been praying and thinking of my mom and me. The prayers worked! Mom just sort of "snapped out of it". She was sick and then suddenly this past Wednesday evening was feeling good. So good, in fact, that we went on to Moscow on Thursday to go grocery shopping and have lunch with my daughter. Mom rested some on Friday and then she and my daughter left yesterday to go camping with my brother and SIL!

This business of my mom not feeling well is really hard to deal with. When I was growing up, she was "never sick" as in she refused to give in to anything. Only the occasional "sick" migraine would stop her.

Mom was and has been a small dynamo. (She was and is little. She's less than 5 feet tall and weighs about 90 pounds. She never weighed above 100 pounds until she was in her fifties.) She worked full time, kept a spotless house (with help from us kids), sewed, read, painted, crocheted, and cooked beautiful meals along with being a mom and wife. Now, she works part time, keeps her house picked up, takes care of her pets, and gardens. She says, "I can sit in my chair and feel bad and sorry for myself, or I can get some work done and keep my mind off of it."

*Only* this time she was so sick she couldn't work - or even walk to the bathroom by herself.

Mom didn't allow and still doesn't do "feel sorry for me". I think that is why I have never posted about this, but since I've been asking for prayers I thought I should explain why.

***

Five years ago this month, my mother was diagnosed with an unknown type of cancer. She had a huge malignant tumor in her lung, and by the time it was found, the cancer had spread to the surrounding lymph nodes. (My mother has never smoked. The doctors said that this is "not a type of cancer one gets from second-hand smoke or asbestos".) Mom had surgery and then chemo. But, the abnormal cells never went away.

The cancer has now spread to the other lung. (She did really well for about 3 years, but then started reacting to the chemo she'd been on. She has reacted to most types they've tried, but seems to handle this last type pretty well.) She also has been experiencing the side effects of prolonged chemo therapy - inability to smell or taste very many things, shortness of breath, decaying teeth and infection, fluid around the heart, extreme weight loss, and the inability to eat very much at a time. She has recently had fluid removed from around her heart and had oral surgery to try to save her teeth and face bones.

Add stress to the cancer.

My step-father had COPD which caused some bouts of crankiness, paranoia, and unreasonableness.

Three years ago, Mom tripped over the cat, fell, and broke her hip. She had to have a hip replacement, but she came through that really well. Within two weeks, she was up and walking to the office every day!

A year ago February, my mom's mother suddenly became ill and passed away while we were experiencing a series of major storms causing road closures and while Mom was in the middle of a major reaction to a treatment.

My step-father didn't handle Grandma's passing. (His illness caused that.)

A year ago June, my once wonderful step-father and my mom's husband of almost 40 years was diagnosed with lung cancer. Hello, COPD and they didn't find the cancer???

Last July, my mom and step-dad were in a wreck caused by a brake malfunction. They weren't hurt, but it wrecked their Suburban and totalled their travel trailer. (This just about did in my step-father. We were so glad it was a malfunction and not something caused by my step-father.)

My step-father went through chemo and radiation treatments, but passed away from pneumonia rather suddenly just after Thanksgiving. (The funeral was extremely stressful - again blizzards and road closures and add my step-dad's hostile daughter. )

Mom is still fighting to get the probate done. There have been my step-father's children to deal with and my (real) nephew's wife. Everyone thinks they are entitled to something.

There's more, but that is enough for here.

***
My brother has stepped in to take care of the mowing, watering, and trimming. He was already doing most of the "handy man" stuff around the house. (Here he is off camping and this morning an underground water line broke to one of the sprinklers. How dare he leave! JK and LOL)

I have been going with Mom to all of her appointments and staying with her when she doesn't feel good. (Mom lives 125 miles from the medical center. In the summer it takes two and a half hours to drive one way.)

My other brother lives on the other side of the country, but he comes "home" when he can. (He was here for 10 days in June and worked his skinny little hind end even skinnier.) He and his wife had been busy with her folks. Her father passed away in January, but her mom is still alive.

Random, but my generation is soon to be the old generation. Scary thought.

This was probably more than you wanted to know. Thank you again for your prayers.