The Journey Thus Far, Part 1

This new phase in our lives started in April 2005. Actually, it had been several months before that that my mom, Betty, complained about pains in her leg and back. Her general doctor put her through a battery of tests, many of them unpleasant and downright painful. The one I remember most was when she came home to tell me that she had long needles stuck in her legs testing her nerves. I'm pretty sure that was the worst one. She went to physical therapy thinking maybe it was a muscular issue. She told me once, "They'd twist my leg all around. I'd be screaming in pain and they'd say I know it hurts but we have to do this." Thinking back it is truly by God's grace that they didn't break her leg with all that twisting, pulling and bending. Her doctor ran more blood work and finally the diagnosis was discovered: Multiple Myeloma (MM).

I remember the day I found out. My oldest daughter was 2 weeks old, my nephew was 2 months old. We were visiting mom, trying to help out, since her pain was so great. She got a phone call. I heard "I'm sitting down....oh....okay....okay....okay...." Her face fell flat and I knew something was wrong but I wasn't prepared to hear "I have cancer". (To be honest and I know this is going to make me sound really stupid, but for some reason I thought she might say "I'm pregnant". I don't know why that thought came to my mind - she's in her 60s - I guess since it seemed like everyone I knew was pregnant why not my mom as well.) Actually my mom didn't say "I have cancer" she said "My doctor says I have something called Multi Myeloma. It's kind of like cancer."

That diagnosis put our lives in a spin. Mom was going off to doctors and MORE tests it seemed everyday. Every doctor had to see her because the treatments would be hard on her body and they needed to make sure she could handle it. A few new doctor's entered our lives. First was Dr. Hollister, her oncologist. He is a very nice, gentle man who works in Greenwich, CT. Since this type of cancer effects the bones one of her first few tests (post-diagnosis) were an MRI and a skeletal survey. Those revealed two 4-inch holes in her femur, actually there was only a small amount of bone left. It's an amazing x-ray to see.

The first course of action was an operation to put a metal rod in her leg. It had to be done ASAP before her femur broke. They told her not to walk, not to drive, not to do anything until this surgery could be done. A few days later she met Dr. Nocek also in Greenwich. My first time meeting him was at the hospital, pre-surgery. He was a great doctor as well. (My mom is quite fortunate to have an amazing team working on her.) The surgery went smoothly. My mom said she was "aware" of the surgery going on. She could hear the drilling and banging and the doctor's talking. Sounds scary to me, but she wasn't scarred by that experience. I get the chills just thinking of it. OOOOOO. My mom went to The Jewish Home for the Elderly to recover. There her physical therapist made replica babies so she could practice carrying and picking up her grand kids. She was at The Jewish Home for a few weeks (I think). Now it was time to start the real journey, killing the cancer.

To be continued....