More Adventures of a Zebra

 One of the hardest things people will ever have to do is tell their parents or other loved ones they have cancer.  There is a bit of panic involved, but as time goes by, acceptance finally makes its appearance and a certain peace reigns.  

I chose this graphic because it speaks to the life we all have to live.  We can't live in a microcosm of self without the support of those around us.  We have to have our loved ones and friends hold us up in prayer as well as in tangible ways.  

In late 2009, I was told my mother had a tumor on her brain and the final diagnosis was a very serious brain cancer that would eventually take her life. I spent more than half of her remaining weeks taking care of her and then cleaning out her house.  Soon after I was back home, I heard someone talk about taking care of his/her parents in that parents' waning days.  The attitude the speaker had was, "I was privileged to take care of my parents.  I didn't have to, I GOT to."  That was exactly my feelings on taking care of Mama.  

In 2011, after one of my scans, my oncologist didn't like the looks of one tumor.  She had gone to a seminar put on by Dr. Rodney Pommier, of Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, and spoke to him afterwards.  He was interested in my case.  So I saw him that spring and he said we could remove the tumor.  I had some things I wanted to do that summer and his schedule wasn't open until September, so it worked out perfectly.  After a six hour surgery, I had been relieved of a six pound, volleyball sized tumor.  

The first post-op scan showed my remaining tumors had grown and Dr. Pommier referred me to an interventional radiologist, Dr. Kolbeck, who might have some solutions.  So, I entered the world of Yttrium-90 treatments (Y-90 is a radioactive agent bound to plastic beads the size of grains of salt).  One of the fellows working with Dr. Kolbeck told me that I had interesting architecture as he was doing the mapping from my femoral artery to my liver.  I'm nothing if not challenging.  Over the next few years, I had four Y-90 treatments, but then my disease stabilized.  Now I'm still stable, but because of the Y-90, I have damage to my liver causing me some other health concerns.  Still, according to my blood work, my liver is still functioning.  

For fear of making this post a novel, I'll close this one for today. but just know that I cherish each and every one of you who reads my posts.