My mother was diagnosed with liver cancer two days ago, and will be released from the hospital tomorrow. The tumor is indeed malignant, and due to its size and location, it is inoperable and unresectable. It also cannot be treated with new technologies such as radiofrequency ablation (which has been doing wonders for cancer patients lately) or other forms of radiation because of its location between vital organs. So the only thing the hospitals can do now is treat her with chemotherapy to lessen the pain and make her remaining days as comfortable as possible. The doctors have given her only a few months to live.
I still can't believe this is happening. Just a couple weeks ago, my family was enjoying Thanksgiving together. Now, we'll be spending perhaps our last Christmas together as a whole. When I was first told of my mother's possible disease, I was horrifed and quite frankly scared out of my mind. Pancreatic cancer (which is what we all had originally thought was the cause of her pains) is in all honesty a death warrant. So you can imagine how hopeful and even relieved I felt when my aunt told me the tumor was most likely located in her gallbladder (according to her catscan). If that were the case, the doctors could have just removed her gallbladder and that would be the end of that. I prayed to God that night and went to sleep hopeful for the next day's outcome. The next day, the doctors told us her cancer wasn't in her gallbladder - it was in her liver. To make things even worse, it was located in a critical area and had grown significantly in size, thus making it impossible to remove surgically. The only thing they could do was insert a draining apparatus in her bileduct to drain the excess bile causing her jaundice (her skin and eyes turned yellow last week as a result of the bile buildup). This will be her second night at the hospital. She's coming home tomorrow, but the only thing the doctors can do for her now is chemotherapy, which will probably just cause more pain in the end.
My mother has less than a year left..anywhere from two to twelve months. And I plan to do anything and everything in my power to make her remaining days as comfortable and full of love as possible. I love my mother and can't imagine life without her.
Sorry if I rambled too much..the last few days have been the worst days of my life. And unfortunately, things will only get worst from here. Thanks for listening, and thanks for the prayers.
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