Dear God: my mom is not an episode of House

[Alessan]

A couple of years ago, my mom started suffering from chest pains and respiratory problems. Two months of testing and intermittant hospital stays later, they finally found the cause: Legionellosis. Yes, mom had Legionnaire's Disease.

Oh well. At least it wasn't lupus.

Two years and some sturdy antibiotics later, my mom started suffering, suddenly, from nausea and abdominal pains. Bad ones. The cause? Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm, or IMPN. In other words, her pancreas is kaput. It's not cancerous yet, but it will be if it isn't treated. Which means that mom is having her entire pancreas removed next Thursday. Not an easy operation, to say the least, and even if it all works fine, she'll need to take daily insulin injections for the rest of her life.

So seriously, God, what the hell? Why does a perfectly healthy 63-year-old yoga instructor come down with not one but two rare, exotic diseases? I do not find this acceptable. What, do you expect me to thank you for not giving them to her at the same time? Forget about it.

[Athena]

Sorry to hear about all that, and yeah, it IS weird.

Associated weird Mom story: my Mom managed to come down with ovarian cancer, despite having a full hysterectomy (40 years ago) and one ovary removed (45+ years ago). That last little bit of girly parts decided to get nasty.

We're debating whether or not it was good she didn't get that other ovary removed when the first one was, or bad. For me, despite the cancer, it was good, because that last remaining ovary was where I came from, despite them telling her that her chances of getting pregnant again were next to nil. Still, cancer sucks.

Back to the OP's Mom, in related weirdness I managed to come down with Type 1 - aka Juvenile - Diabetes at age 38, and honestly, the insulin management stuff isn't all that hard. At least it hasn't been for me. A bit of a lifestyle change but relatively minor in the overall picture of things. Tell her to get a pump, life is much easier that way.

[tdn]

I'm sorry to hear that. I can relate, my father has spent a lot of tim in hospitals in the last decade. One condition he had was so rare that there was not a name for it.

[Nava]

Originally Posted by tdn

I'm sorry to hear that. I can relate, my father has spent a lot of tim in hospitals in the last decade. One condition he had was so rare that there was not a name for it.

When back in 1999 Dad finally got re-diagnosed from some sort of lung cancer to mesothelioma (cancer of the pleural sac, the bag which protects the lungs from bruising against the ribs), the local healthcare system didn't even have a protocol to check for mesothelioma. One got implemented rapidly, advantages of having a "first case" of sorts who was a well-known, well-liked former worker of said system: like it or not, we all do get a bigger fire in our butts for someone we know and like than for "random guy".



I'm sorry about your Mom's problems and hope her recovery is swift and complete, Alessan.

[AK84]

All the best to you and your family. Hopefully this is the last episode of major disease, rare or otherwise in your family.

[Noone Special]

So sorry to hear this, Alessan. Hoping for a much better New Year for you and yours!

[Gagundathar]

Wow. That is as improbable as it gets. Your House reference indicates that you haven't lost your sense of humor and that is important when this kind of stuff hits the fan.
I wish you and your family the very best, Allesan. Please keep us posted.

Golly that is just SO weird. You just can't make up stuff like this. Truth is stranger than fiction at times.

[ZipperJJ]

How absolutely frustrating for such a healthy person to get so sick!! I feel bad for you guys - hope things turn around now that there's a diagnosis.

[Mona Lisa Simpson]

Wow, sorry to hear about that. Gagundathar is right, at least you have your sense of humour. Diabetes sucks, and I assume that she will also have to take digestive enzymes as well now without the pancreas. Wishing your mother strength and health...

[purplehorseshoe]

Hospitals SUCK, I've learned. Here's hoping she regains her health and quality of life. Good luck to you and yours.

[maggenpye]

Your mom and my mum should get together.

When my mum got meningitis, it was the rarer bacterial version. The tratment plan, in the best traditions of House, almost killed her before they figured out what was really wrong.

Then she got Ramsay Hunt II, which responds best to very prompt treatment... if the doctor knows what the hell it is and actually provides treatment. Also in the best tradition of House, the main symptom is pain.

She's made a speedy and 'better than expected' recovery both times and I hope your mom does the same.

[Alessan]

Thanks, everyone.

I was actually impressed by how fast everything went this time. While it took them two months to diagnose the Legionnaires (admittedly, a hard disease to diagnose), but with her pancreas, she was in on Wednesday and had an initial diagnosis the next day, with the final results today. She's at a good hospital, though, and she and my dad are friends with some senior staff members, which is probably why she got such a nice private room.

Mom is optimistic. She's a strong believer in the power of positive thinking, and there's no way she'll let herself act distraught. She leaves the worrying to us - when we're not in the same room as her, of course

As far as she's concerned, she's damn lucky they caught this in time. She can live without a pancreas if it means she won't die of cancer in five years. It's still disconcerting, though, how this can happen after so many years of clean, healthy living. I know life isn't fair - the fact that my brother is in a wheelchair is proof enough - but I hate having that confirmed.

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

Sorry, Alessan. Your mom sounds like a real resilient woman.

[GuanoLad]

Originally Posted by Alessan

It's still disconcerting, though, how this can happen after so many years of clean, healthy living.

This is the part of life that sucks the most, I think. Doing the right thing, whatever that is to you, means almost nothing in the grand scheme of things. Hmph.

Good luck wishes to your Mum.

[Shayna]

May she be inscribed for another year (and you and the rest of your family, as well).

[truthSeeker2]

Sorry to hear Alessan.

Yoga teaches us acceptance and makes us resilient. Being into yoga must be helping your mother cope. My father is also a yoga teacher btw.

Wish your mother all the very best.

[AK84]

No news, so I hope everything went well?

[Alessan]

She's checking back into the hospital this afternoon; her surgery is tomorrow morning.

On a related note, she's stated that as soon as she gets out of the hospital, she's going to ask for a prescription for medical marijuana. She intends to spend her convalescence sitting in her back yard, stoned out of her gourd.

[kambuckta]

Originally Posted by Alessan

On a related note, she's stated that as soon as she gets out of the hospital, she's going to ask for a prescription for medical marijuana. She intends to spend her convalescence sitting in her back yard, stoned out of her gourd.

Atta girl!

[maggenpye]

Good for her.

I hope everything goes well.

[Noone Special]

Originally Posted by Alessan

She's checking back into the hospital this afternoon; her surgery is tomorrow morning.

Best of luck - בהצלחה!

On a related note, she's stated that as soon as she gets out of the hospital, she's going to ask for a prescription for medical marijuana. She intends to spend her convalescence sitting in her back yard, stoned out of her gourd.

Tell her a Random Stranger told you she rocks!

[fluiddruid]

Believe me, I totally sympathize. Back in January, I started having weird symptoms -- swelling, muscle weakness, joint pain. Note, I'm 33. Went to the doctor. "Probably vitamin deficiencies, come back in 3 months." Didn't make it to 3 months before coming back begging for help, got weaker and weaker. Since then I've constantly been about 2 or 3 weeks from a treatment, we just need more tests, come back, more tests, and so on. They at least think they know what it is -- systemic scleroderma -- and it sucks. I can barely walk anymore, but we still aren't treating the disease yet, because it just doesn't seem to be doing what it's supposed to be. (We are treating a few symptoms, with pain meds, a diuretic and blood pressure medication, but nothing to stop what's happening.)

The last hurdle was getting a kidney biopsy. I got the results yesterday -- they're abnormal, but not abnormal in the way they expected. Great? The reason I had the biopsy was to make sure I'm a good candidate for a particular drug -- which I didn't realize until yesterday is a chemotherapy drug. So if I'm lucky (?) I will start chemo (!) soon once we confer with a kidney specialist, again. If I'm unlucky, who knows what is going to happen.

Why does my body have to be so damn mysterious?

[Alessan]

Well, my mom's OK for now. After 4 and a half hours of surgery, they managed to get out her pancreas with no complications, while saving her spleen and gall bladder (which apparently were also at risk). It also seems that when they took it out, they found that the pre-cancerous cysts were in much worse shape than they had thought - basically, they would have gone cancerous in months rather than years. We really had no idea how fortunate she was they caught this in time.

We waited five hours for her to go from the post-op to the ICU, but we finally got to see her. She probably won't remember - she was really, really out of it - but she seemed pretty happy.

That aside, I managed to spend 9 hours with my dad without getting into any major arguments, which is a real achievement considering how much stress we were under. I think he's mellowing with age. I also went to give blood while we were waiting, because I decided we needed as much good karma as we could get.

[BigT]

Originally Posted by Gagundathar

Wow. That is as improbable as it gets. Your House reference indicates that you haven't lost your sense of humor and that is important when this kind of stuff hits the fan.
I wish you and your family the very best, Allesan. Please keep us posted.

Golly that is just SO weird. You just can't make up stuff like this. Truth is stranger than fiction at times.

This is almost exactly what I was thinking. I'm glad you said it, as I probably would have bumbled it up.