My family’s problems, to be exact. We had never had any (relevant ones at least).
I guess it all kicked off in October 2000. I have some relatives (father’s brother) living in San Jose, CA. Aunty is pregnant with her 3rd child, has normal labor. But the baby is not ok. She was born with a herniated diaphragm (a nice big hole in the muscle that separates lungs and heart from other organs). So her stomach, pancreas intestine and whatnot were higher than they were supposed to be, stopping the lungs from growing appropiately. So luckily, she’s near Stanford U which has a great neonatal hospital. She spends the following 4 months in the ICU, after several procedures, and many instances where the docs told my uncle she wasn’t gonna make it. She goes home, with an oxygen machine, and a tube to her stomach so that she can eat.
Spring 2001. My aunt (mother’s side) is diagnosed with breast cancer. Advanced breast cancer. So she goes into chemo, which was specially hard for her, cuz she couldn’t get it at her hometown, she had to travel 5 hours to Monterrey (Mexico). So she bouts it out, gets 8 chemos, deteriorates a lot along the way… but eventually she seems to be clear. Good times.
Winter 2001. My mom starts out with general health complaints, at first she just thinks hey I must be getting old. So over early 2002 she visits a lot of docs, gets different diagnoses. Her health is diminishing notably, she’s eating less and she gets tired easily. So finally in May my dad takes her off to the Mayo Clinic in MN. She spends two weeks there bouncing off docs, doing test and tests. She is finally diagnosed with breast cancer. So she comes back home and starts chemos, which are a bitch, she’s basically bed ridden for a week every chemo, etc. We basically manage, until her 6th chemo, when she’s given a more potent drug. She’s basically doing fine, until a few days afeter the chemo, she gets a blood test and her white blood cell count is somewhere around 400 (normal values are 2000 - 12000). She spends some days in the hospital, in partial isolation (any infection could kill her). Finally her wbcc is normal, we come home, and chemos are suspended, she starts hormone treatment. It’s late 2002 by now.
Spring 2003 my aunt’s cancer is back. She’s now getting chemos, radiation etc. She has many problems, as with before, she has to travel for her treatment, she can’t work, etc etc. She continues to battle it out pretty much by herself (pretty non supportive husband, children too young to help, 9 and 11).
Summer 2003. Mom has strong muscle and bone pains, that and some tests lead to the belief that her cancer is back too. She starts a new treatment, much less agressive than the last, than God. She gets about 5 chemos, her pain isn’t letting her sleep and she’s having a hard time altogether. So doc changes drugs, and now she’s getting a low dosage of chemo every week, opposed to a load every 3 weeks, like she used to get. She’s doing pretty much fine, the chemos are much lighter and with the help of some cortisone she feels pretty much ok.
December 2003. My aunt passes away. She is, basically, the aunt I am dearest too. I get the news by phone (i study in Guadalajara, 200 km away)at 12 am. Fckshtcrapdamn. Luckily I had finished my semester that same day so I took to the road the following day. Even though I had gotten a decent sleep, I could’t help but feeling extremely tired. I got here as fast as I could (averaging 160km/h). The worst drive of my life. So I get home, take one look at mom, and yeah, it was just what you’d expect for a woman who’s getting chemos and whose’s sister just died. My grief is suddenly over as I realize my job is now to be as supportive as I can to Mom. She’s pretty much greiving but she’s got a strong character and unshakable faith in God.
Yesterday. I get a call, it’s my grandfather, he’s diagnosed with lung cancer, that’s all I learn, don’t tell your mother. Mom talks with my grandfather today, doctor said he’s got 2-3 months. Great, thanks, we needed that. My grandmother’s doing bad too, she had a crappy knee prosthetic done 2 years ago, and they had to remove it a couple of months ago. She’s been bedridden ever since. Most worrying, she shows no will of getting up, and it ain’t easy either, she’s probably going on 80 and she’s overweight.
I gotta ask. What next. Not looking for any answers really just letting off some steam. Thanks everyone who read (got kinda longer that I thought).
I certainly hope that soon things start looking much brighter for your family, as well as everyone else out there who’s facing such major stress and grief.