Vacations and Hysterectomys

This is my cat doing what I wish I was doing now, cat nap in a comfy spot.

The trip to CT was great and at this point seems long ago. We had a fantastic time visiting my sisters and their family. While we were there I helped my oldest sister shop for a suit for an interview. The interview was for a job that would take her to Tennessee. She still doesn't have word that she has the job, but it is looking pretty good. Also while we were there we got word that my mother may have cancer.

Miles playing peek-a-boo.

It was a strange deal. My father called my husband and gave him the briefest overview and told him to have my sister and I call when we returned home for the errand we were running together. We got back and ate lunch then Jared told us what my father had said. We had many questions, but didn't want to make my parents go through it more than once. We called my oldest sister and asked her to come over without telling her what was going on. Unfortunately she was busy and didn't think she'd be able to come over at all that day. We ended up giving her the very little information that we had at the time and she agreed to come as soon as she could. We went ahead and called my father back. He answered and sounded fine (normal for him, nothing shakes him). He said that mom was fine. She'd received the diagnosis on Friday when she was in for a physical (this was Sunday). He didn't really know much, and suggested we call mom. We asked if they were not together. Oh no, he assured us, they were home. He was downstairs and she was upstairs. You know how it is. I do? I sure hope if I ever receive that terrible diagnosis that Jared would not allow me to tell my parents or children without him being there to support me!

Doris and I made Blackberry Preserves and Blueberry Jam as well as some pie filling.

We called my mother, and she'd been crying. She didn't say as much, but we knew. She said that she'd had some spotting and she was post menopause. That was all that it took for the doctor to tell her that she may have cancer. They had done blood tests and scheduled a sonogram and a next appointment to go through the results. That was all that she knew at the time.

The three cousins playing nicely.

Well as you could guess, that didn't much help the vacation. There were no further doctor's appointments scheduled for while we were out of town. There was nothing anyone could do at that point, so we stayed.

At the zoo.

Since returning home, mom has had the sonogram. Results inconclusive. The day they had her scheduled for the results appointment they instead had her go in for a CT Scan. That was a Friday (7/24) and the results appointment was that Monday (7/27). The results were better than I was prepared to receive. After waiting at the doctor's office for 2 hours she said it appeared it may not be cancer! I've since read that only about 20% of post menopausal bleeding is due to cancer and I wonder if they said that it may be cancer to spur her into action. They did, however, see that she had a cyst on each ovary and she'd probably need to have a hysterectomy.

Man, I look fat here. Another pic from the zoo.

An appointment was scheduled for a gynecological oncologist for this past Monday (8/3). He does want to do the hysterectomy, it is scheduled for Wednesday (8/12). It took a bit the scheule because they needed a urinary specialist to be on call during the surgery incase they needed to place a temporary stint due to some problem they had seen with the urinary tract. They are planning to take the cycts, and immediatly freeze them and send them to a pathologist. The pathologist will then look at them under a microscope to determine if possible what they are (cancer or not). If there is anythin suspicious with them he will then call the surgeon (still in surgery with my mother) and tell him to take many more samples to be sure that there are no other cancers. The hysterectomy will then be performed and hopefully all will be well!

The two littles at the zoo.

We are just trying to make it from day to day until next Wednesday. I'm hoping to be able to put away several meals for them between now and when she gets out of the hospital five days after surgery. I'm also helping to get her ready for the hospital stay and she's asked for a bit of help with housework type things.

My parents dog feeling the wind in her ears.

I don't think I'll be able to go to the hospital for the surgery. It begins at 2, and the afternoon is not always a great time for Miles. Although my in laws will be happy to watch him, I feel that I'll be leaning on them enough for that in the near future. Right now I'm thinking that if dad goes to work in the morning, I'll go over and help mom get ready and take her to the hospital to check in and meet with dad there. Then Miles and I will hea home for lunch and nap and afternoon activities. Then Jared and I may ask his parents to come over for dinner and bed time with Miles so that we can take my dad out to dinner and back to the hospital. Then we can stay with him for a while and hopefully see mom when she gets out of recovery. I understand a normal hysterectomy is about 5 hours. That puts her in or getting out of recovery at 7. We'll see how things go. I'm tired just thinking/writing this much about it. If you are still reading, please pray for my family. It is a hard time, but I know we will make it though!

My grandmother, Miles, and my parents dog Heidi at my grandmother's house.