Mom

Mom was brought to her home by ambulance today. She knew it and you could see in her eyes she recognized her home of 40 years. It took a bit to get her into the tiny 900 square foot cottage with narrow doors and tight corners, but between the EMTs and Greg we figured it […]

Bringing mom home tomorrow into hospice.

Unfortunately the news is not good. Mom is in ICU, resting comfortably. The cancer is extensive and had caused several perforations on her bowel. They were able to do a few things to relieve the blockage, but the doctor believes she is or will become septic. This means a systemic infection that will be extremely

After a difficult but candid phone conversation with a surgeon last night, we decided that surgery was my mom’s best option to relieve her suffering, and her only option to survive longer. My top priority is her comfort. Greg and I raced back to Napa last night to see her. She is cognitively ok but

Another bad day for mom as the nurses struggle to manage her pain. She is on a steady drip of narcotic which makes her foggy in her thinking and speech. The doctors are leaning heavily toward surgery at this point to relieve her suffering. While she dreads the thought of a colostomy, it does seem

I had to take mom to the emergency department early this morning. She has serious pain, suspected bowel obstruction. Again. More when I know it. Update @ 1:17 PM We are still in the emergency dept., waiting for admission. It’s flu season, which means an open bed is hard to come by. The oncologist came

We had a mixed review from mom’s oncologist today. Unfortunately, I was tied up with a client and could not be with her. But here is the low-down: The MRI of her head came back clear. She had complained of vision problems, that her eyes felt “swollen.” Her ophthalmologist had checked her and said her

I am starting to wind down the year, wrapping up client work and queuing up projects for 2013. I plan to take off the week between Christmas and New Year’s to close out my books, clean out files and tidy things up. And I will take some time to reflect on this year. I have

For a couple weeks now my mom has been like a teenager, anxious to start driving again. She has not driven a car in nine months. I had told her that I’d feel more comfortable if she were to drive again for the first time with someone as a passenger, either myself or a friend,

We are getting ready for Thanksgiving next week, like most everyone else. I have much to be thankful for, despite it having been one of the toughest years of my life. But today I am particularly thankful for a tumor count report that says things are within “normal range.” When my mom started her chemotherapy