The Beginning

Life is an interesting concept to reflect on. When you think about it, life is really just a journey in simple terms; a very complex journey however. Throughout this journey we hit bumps in the road and will inevitably experience hard times. It is with the strength we have and the strength of our families and friends and faith that carry us through these hardships. 

For a long time my mother had a cough that would not go away. She started to get sick more frequently, when she was originally never the type to get sick. The cough started during Thanksgiving of 2012 and continued through the winter and spring and is still being dealt with. The doctors thought it was Pneumonia, but when nothing changed she was sent to a pulmonary specialist, who told her to get a CT scan. 

I went with her to Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, she had the CT scan done and the same night Mom received a call from her doctors with bad news.

In the CT scan they said they found a tumor. They started scheduling tests, July 9th she had to have a Pulmonary Function Test, an MRI on her brain, Pre-admitions Test, and a PET Scan. Then Friday, July 12th she had a Bronchoscopy Procedure. Finally on July 18th we would find out the results and figure out what to do next.

The reality of it was that she had a tumor in her lung, it is either benign (not cancerous) or it was going to be cancer. 

On Friday, July 12th, I waited with Mom for seven hours to have her surgery done, with a combination of emergencies which extended our wait time, her pain and the anticipation of what the results might be, we were both very anxious and aggravated. She was very uncomfortable. It broke my heart to have to watch her in such discomfort for so long. When they finally took her into surgery at 3:00 pm, I decided to take the opportunity to get a cup of tea, when I came back time seemed to fly because next thing I knew I was being called into a room to speak with Dr. Folch. In this conference I was alone, surprised and anxious. I didn't expect to be consulted by her doctor.

Dr. Folch was very nice, but he had bad news. He told me that he sampled two lymph nodes that were affected by the tumor, and found atypical cells, he said he believed them to be malignant (cancerous). He said he also saw narrowing in her right bronchial tube which is the same lung that has the tumor, we found out that the tumor was in fact, outside of the bronchial tube. Dr. Folch said he wants to go in with a laser and burn away the narrowing, and place a stent in if it is needed. He also said that Chemotherapy and Radiation will be the best treatment for her. I asked him how sure he was about Mom having cancer, he told me 95%. Sounded like he was sure enough. After that meeting I left to call my dad, and we would have to wait another week to hear the official results.