Team Purple Firefox

Support Maria's Fight Against Pancreatic Cancer

Family

Home Office

by 2 Comments

I moved my workspace to the empty bedroom at mom’s house, and I plan to work from here for the next few months. This empty bedroom was actually my old bedroom at one time… it was my older sister’s bedroom before that, and my parent’s original bedroom before that.

Here I am again.

Being self-employed has some perks… regular paycheck? Nah. Health insurance? Nope. 401k? Hahahahaha. Ability to be just a few feet away during a family crisis in case anyone needs help with anything? Priceless.

I Slept over Mom’s last night; she cam home from a procedure and we wanted to make sure she took meds at 2am. I needed to relieve the fam that had been sleeping over since Thursday, and my dad needed a good night’s sleep.

That means I slept on one end of the sectional couch while mom slept on the other end and we ate licorice and watched “Enemy of the State” for the 5 millionth time and then fell asleep letting episodes of “Cold Case” just keep playing in the background. I might as well have been 12 with my dad on night shift and episodes of M*A*S*H playing off of an 8-hour VHS tape.

Mom seems 100% better today on all fronts.

She is so moved by the constant stream of children, grandchildren, sisters, cousins, friends, neices, and nephews showing up in all kinds of ways to just help fill up the space and keep the dark thoughts away.

Not all medicine comes in a bottle.

Home, But Different

by Leave a Comment

Mom is coming home today!

Long road ahead. A lot of risks but the odds are with us.

I am very grateful for of the kinds words, comments, and actions yesterday. They were a salve on the stress and anxiety.

Continued prayers, thoughts… however you connect, if you are willing to bring our family into it, I would appreciate it.

Personally, I am praying for the Grace for all of us to accept whatever is coming and to be able to meet the challenges ahead and walk the path with Love and Faith and trust that there is a plan, even if I don’t understand it or think it is fair.

Today, Mom comes back home, though I don’t think it will feel the same.

I don’t think anything can be the same again.

My Mom is Very Sick

by 3 Comments

My mom is very sick.

Yesterday we had to rush her to the hospital.

Today we found out why.

She has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

She has a “locally advanced, stage 1 tumor of mild severity”. She is going to start chemo in the next couple of days, and then is considering and leaning toward a very complex surgery (called a Whipple procedure) to give her the best possible prognosis.

It is very risky, but the alternative is, well, the worst possible alternative.

If you know my mom, you know she is next level. I could write so much but it feels like a eulogy.

I can say that there has never been one single day, in my entire life, ever, that she has made me sad, and I know few people can claim such a thing. She spent 40 years as a nurse, after finishing first in her class in nursing school while me and my sisters were children, and worked most of those years in ICU, and her last half dozen or so as the Director of Infection Prevention at our local neighborhood hospital, where she herded everyone through the first year + of COVID before retiring.

I could write pages about what an extraordinary person she is, and if you know her, you know.Mom is the matriarch of our family, and the center of our universe, and my whole fam is completely shook.

Personally, I am a momma’s boy, and am not doing very well, but our fam is big and great and swarming and will be OK. My niece put together this GoFundMe, which if you feel called to support, will go toward whatever her soon to be massive medical costs will be: https://gofund.me/ab7a36cf

Again, thanks to all who reached out and made contact with all of your concern. Love you all, and love the love you shared with me today.

I felt it all, believe me.