My Mom is Very Sick

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.