Sunshine Comes to All Who Feel The Rain.
“Cry. It’s ok to do so. Cry your soul out, even when there is nothing left to pour out. Grieve freely. Pain really does change people. It really does change the human heart. It can make you or break you. There is no lie in that and I have felt enough of it to say, that things do get better. That things do sort themselves out in the end. Do not lose hope, please believe that there are a thousand beautiful things waiting for you.”
I know so many of you have been waiting for an update on mom, and I apologize for that – but it’s taken our family a moment to truly wrap our heads and hearts around the pain we are feeling. With that, I am going to give it to you straight, rip the Band-Aid off and hope that you can all find some peace in what I am sharing with you today.
The results of mom’s PET scan on Monday were not good. The cancer in her esophagus has proven to be extremely aggressive and it has spread, and it spread fast. We are no longer talking about a cure now as it has evolved into a stage four metastatic incurable cancer that has now taken over her entire body. In addition to a large tumor mass in her esophagus, there is a very large one in her shoulder (which we now understand to be the cause of her immense pain these last few weeks) and smaller tumors in her chest, abdomen, pelvis, one of her lungs and lymph nodes.
Her oncologist gave us an estimated timeline of three to six months, and while we are realistic about what he has told us, we’re still going to hold on to hope with everything we have.
Today, mom received a “super blast” of radiation in her shoulder to hopefully shrink the tumor that is sitting beneath her bone and pushing it up. The radiation should also kill the nerve endings/tissues and relieve some of her pain.
We are also currently waiting to find out if she qualifies for immunotherapy treatment help her body fight and stop the cells from spreading. The goal with immunotherapy is to boost the immune system and teach it to begin attacking the cancer cells. There have been some great success stories, even in stage four cancer patients, so our hope is that her markers are a match and that she can begin receiving treatment soon.
There are no words that can provide us solace right now as we are all still grieving and processing how unfair this all is, but we truly appreciate each and every one of you who has continued to pray for mom and reach out to us all. Thank you.