Monday:
My mum rang with her test results. She has breast cancer, and bone cancer. She'd suspected it was something bad but didn't tell anyone until she was sure, today. She's seeing the specialist on Wednesday.
I'm still a bit in shock and I don't really know how bad it is. I guess she doesn't either.
She doesn't want me to come to Sydney right now - I talked about driving down tomorrow. She isn't even sure about the weekend, she'll let me know. Should I just go anyway? Tim suggested she might prefer if I went by myself, rather than all of us (we'd all go to Sydney but only me to see mum), I didn't think of suggesting that. I'll wait until after she's spoken to me on Wednesday, anyway, because that's what she wants. My brother is worse than useless, but her own sister and brother live nearby and will be a big help.
Trying not to break down in front of the kids too much.
She said at one point she wasn't scared of dying which I thought was positive but now I'm not sure if she meant she's feeling so sick and awful she wouldn't mind. She talked about things unfinished - she's a couple of months away from a uni degree after years of study. She's been taking a lot of sick leave from work and she's going in tomorrow one last time to delegate work but she says she's not quitting or retiring yet (she's 72) so I guess that is a good thing. She's just going on more sick leave. There is only 2 or 3 weeks left of this school year - she's a teacher.
Scared she is going to die soon.
What do you do with yourself while you're waiting for test results?
Hi Natalie, So sorry to hear this. My dad died of cancer a long time ago, when he was 55 years old. During his last months, I spent a lot of time with him just talking. He told me everything he wanted to say as last words--and I took pages of notes. A lot of it never made sense, as my dad had a malignant web-like brain tumor. But the time together was good.
ReplyDeletePerhaps, you can notify the university and ask if she can speed up that degree, given the entire situation. I don't have enough facts. My Dad lived for many months after his diagnosis. And your mom's mind should be intact, even if she isn't feeling well. Again, so sorry you have to go through this. :-)