The Servant's Quarters

Breast Cancer Blogging

Well, 2006 is shaping up to be a fine year.

First, Dad lands in the hospital for an extended stay of around 6 weeks.

Now, Mom has breast cancer.

We found out the latest bad news about 3 weeks ago. She's suffering from Invasive Ductal Breast Cancer, the most common and treatable form of the disease in women. She's been through various tests, and what we know so far is that it's aggressive, large, and deep. However, the surgeon also indicated that we seem to have caught it early, and he doesn't believe that it has spread to any other part of her body.

The surgery to remove the cancer and determine conclusively whether or not it has spread is tomorrow. Three weeks after that, she will begin what may amount to 6 months of chemotherapy treatments. (Hopefully, she won't require that much chemo, but we'll see.) After the chemo comes 6 or 7 weeks of radiation.

Then, Mom should be "cured." She'll then begin the process of waiting 5 years to see if she is a "survivor."

My confidence is high that she is on the road to recovery. Barring any unexpected bad news, tomorrow will begin the process that will end with her being cancer-free by Christmas. My biggest worry is how to deal with my father, who despite being dependent on those around him for help, is claiming that he'll be "fine" despite the fact that his primary (and let's face it - only) caregiver is about to be rendered unable to assist him for the rest of the this year. For the past 3 weeks, I've tried to convince him that we need to make plans for both he and my Mom to have the assitance they need because no one in the family is going to be able to provide it. I'm the most accessible to them, but with six homeschooled kids and a full time job to worry about, I'm not going to be available all of the time.

Well, we'll see what happens. I'll be there for them as best I can. But it's they're responsibility to manage their own care. That job hasn't been given to me.

Yet.

Hopefully, that time is a long ways off.

I'm going to try to use this blog as a source of information and a chronicle of this experience. I'll try to report here as events transpire.

Tomorrow is hospital day. Mom is in for surgery. I'll have my laptop and will try to work remotely while forcing myself to not worry. Dad will be with me watching Jerry Springer.