On the way home last night, I stopped by my parents house to check in. I am now feeling like I need to go supervise at my mom's appointments. As far as her medical condition, she's doing extremely well!!! She's still tiring very easily but fatigue aside, she's almost back to normal. I tell you, she's made of steel! Except for her ears... I think they're all wax.
As soon as I got off the phone with my dad about my mom's oncology appointment, I blogged about it. I took notes while speaking to him, and blogged away. Last night, I walked in the door to mom saying, "Well, I've decided that I don't want to listen to the doctor's if there's only a 1 in 5 chance". Woah, stop. The doctor's had excitedly given her a 70% chance for the preferred radiation treatment, and a 1 in 5 for the chemo. At first they wouldn't listen; I finally got some logic into their heads. (The simple math alone! How can 1 in 5 equal 70%???) I will stand by any logical decision she chooses to make, as long as it is informed and well-thought out. If it's made because she can't hear or she forgets the options... well, let's just say that doesn't fly with me. I had asked him to record the appointment with his cell phone so he could refer back to it, but he forgot. The worst part is that they weren't very concerned. I had originally anticipated a problem, but I really thought that we were out of the woods. I have decided to take the day of her next oncologist appointment off so that I can go with her. It doesn't matter as much now because she went to her new primary care doctor today, & she doesn't want her to make any decision until she gets the reports back from the oncologist. She wants to sit down with them and explain everything, and make sure they understand. Thank God that my dad has been seeing her for years. She'd be in big trouble without him, I think.
My dad had requested copies of the files from the hospital, so I started looking through the 45 pages. It's amazing how many things they repeat several times. In one place, they make reference to her "absent uterus". Ok, to me that means "not filled" or "empty". Apparently, in the grand logic of my dad it means "missing". Mmmm hmmm. Yeah, missing. I finally had to point out that, since she has no medical history, no surgeries except for a tonsilectomy as a child and eye surgery, wouldn't someone have been a little suspicious if her uterus was missing? Really? I'm pretty sure that would bring up some questions, but he's arguing with me! That's what he does; I cannot possibly be right. Then, he tells me how upset he is reading this because "according to the paperwork, she knew for at least 8 months that there was a problem and she hid it from us!" I laughed at him and pointed out that I told him in March that she had cancer. He says "I forgot you said that." Can you say liar? I pointed out that he argued with me then. He told me that I was "being dramatic, she just needs to eat at Sweet Tomatoes more". Yeah. Let me say that I have enough drama in my life from everyone else. I don't need drama, I don't like drama, and frankly, I don't have time for it. Just the facts, ma'am. However, when I see a problem, I want to jump on it before I run out of time or forget about it. When it comes to medical stuff, I realize that taking care of things before it spirals out of control is a good thing. Grrr!!! They really need to start listening to me. They always said that I can't handle stress, until the past few years. I have triple the stress that they've ever had with all that we're going through in my house. I can handle it better than anyone I know! I explained that I've learned how to have a clinical approach to medical issues. I can handle it way better than my dad can.
Oh, and the tumor? The report shed some light on the size. "CAT scan of the abdomen and pelvis showed a large tumor, 9x8x6- cm obstructing tumor in the distal transverse colon in the left abdomen at the level of the iliac crest, with the right colon measuring 10cm in width". That makes much more sense than 65mm. I'm really starting to believe that I need to babysit them more when it comes to decisions. It really makes me sad.
