I thought it would be wise for my first blog entry to introduce myself and explain why I am here!
Since my mum's diagnosis a month ago, I (just like many others, I suspect) have been so up and down about it and some days I just don't know what to think. I'd heard about the Macmillan website before and thought there might be some information on here about the treatment my mum will be recieving and the type of cancer she has. What I found blew me away - a community! A whole internet community of people in similar (and worse) situations than me. People who understand, people who I can be honest with. I feel like I can come here and say what I need to say and ask questions. I thank Macmillan and the other members on this website for providing me with that priceless and indescribable feeling of understanding and comfort.
So, now my mum. She was first diagnosed 10 years ago when I was in high school. My sister was around 7 or 8 years old and far too young to even begin to understand the difficult journey we were about to embark on as a family. We all had our own little disasters going on, and when mum was diagnosed it completely overwhelmed us all. Somehow we got through it, my mum being very brave and very strong all the way through the entire process - words cannot describe how proud I was (and still am) of her. Funnily and cruel enough around two years ago we received the 'all clear' results we'd all been waiting for and our lungs finally breathed the sigh of relief that had been held in for so long.
A month ago (27th June) she was diagnosed with Terminal Secondary Breast Cancer. It has spread to her lungs, her liver and her bones. She has just undergone a big operation to 'fix' her hip bone, she's had an 11" rod inserted from the top to the very bottom of her thigh bone and I think a couple of pins have been put in for good measure. She's healing very well and was up on her feet the day after the op! The strength that woman posseses still to this day amazes me.
So we're in for a long journey. She's going to be starting Chemo again very soon after a few 'blasts' of Radiotherapy. We don't know whether or not the chemo is going to work, or how effective (if at all) it'll be until the treatment starts. They'll also be giving her Herceptin which apparently is a very effective treatment for the type of cancer she has.
That's basically the long and short of it. Of course there are more little details here and there but for the most part, that's as much as we know so far. I think that's what's bothering me (I haven't spoken to other family members about this yet) to be honest, just the fact that we STILL don't know for sure after all those tests, all that poking and prodding, waiting, umming, aaahing, we still don't know whether we're talking a year, 2, 10, 20? I think that's why I'm so up and down and flitting from positive to negative so often and so randomly. One minute everything will be ok and she's got the best treatment and blah blah blah and then the next minute she's dying and I'm going to have to face living the rest of my life without my mum.
What I will say is that so far, the support, care and advice that my mum has recieved in the last month has been nothing short of amazing. Right down to the Macmillan nurses who got the funding for her Herceptin treatment (if you're reading this, thank you from the bottom of my heart) to the surgeons who repaired her leg. The nurses, the consultants, the specialists - everybody. You're all amazing. Thank you thank you. My mum is pretty amazing too :) thank you mum <3
Thank you for reading everybody, more to come soon :)
Please remember that I'm here to connect with people in a similar position to me and my family - please don't hesitate to contact me. Even if it's just to say hello :)
