Well, it’s been a while since I last posted anything. As you may know from reading my blog, my mother has been very sick, as she was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. I thought that it would be polite to update the blog to let people know how she was doing, in case any of you were concerned.

I think the last thing I mentioned was that she had been booked in for a CT scan after clouds were identified on an X-ray. Well, the CT scan basically confirmed what we already suspected, that she has small cell lung cancer. After having the CT she had a biopsy taken with a needle inserted under her shoulder blade, and into her lung. A procedure, which she informs me, was the most painful thing she has ever experienced, and she has had five children! After culturing the the tissue sample, the specialist informed her that the tumors were inoperable, and that she will have to undergo radiotherapy and chemotherapy to try and reduce the size of the cells.

While all of this was happening she was still recovering from extreme anemia, and was on heavy pain killers, so she didn’t really know what was going on. After the CT scan was investigated a little further, the Doctors discovered a few other little “surprises”. Namely, that one of her lungs has completely stopped functioning, and that she has an inflamed lymph node in her abdomen that has been pressing on her renal artery, and causing the terrible back pain she has been experiencing lately. Due to the later, it also looks like one of her kidneys has now shut down.

This has been a very difficult time for all of us, and I am very proud of my dad for being so strong, and looking after my mum. He is in his 70s now, and has a bad heart problem, so he shouldn’t be taking all of this on really. However, my siblings have been pretty annoying during this time. My sister, Anne-Marie, has been making me feel guilty for moving away, because basically, she doesn’t want to take responsibility for them; the youngest of my brothers, Charles, is pretending that it isn’t happening, because he lives in a fantasy land where nothing ever goes wrong in life; my second oldest brother, Richard, is a complete waste of space, as always; and finally, my oldest brother, James, and his wife, told me that I should come back to England as soon as I can, because Mum was going to die soon and I should say my goodbyes. This last scared the shit out of me. I was only in contact with them by email, and I asked a load of questions, which they never replied to. I know my Mum and Dad have a tendency to sugar coat things for me, because I am the youngest, so this sent me into a big panic, and I nearly laid down $4000 for a Christmas season flight back home. Then, all of a sudden, the Doctors decided that my mum was OK, and sent her home!!!! I have spoken to her everyday since she has been back, and she sounds a lot stronger than she did while in hospital, which I am very glad of. She is going back to the Hospital for her first dose of chemotherapy today, so we’ll see how that goes, because she is already very weak from the anemia , and I dread to think what pumping poison into her veins will do.

I still plan to head back to the UK in January or February to see her. We are hoping she responds well to treatment, but the five year survival rate for small-cell lung cancer is only 17%, so I’m going to try and make the best of the time we still have with her.

Thanks for the well wishes that people have sent, they are very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Edward

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