Mother-in-law

It has been a while since I have blogged – mostly because it has been a busy and, frankly, rather stressful end to the summer. Despite late August’s little earthquake and hurricane, which would have made good blogging material, our attentions here have been on my mother-in-law, Pat.

During those little outbursts from Mother Nature, Pat was diagnosed with uterine cancer. She had surgery, which went well. However, the incision site soon became infected and the care for it has been a troublesome complication. She is improving steadily but it is still an issue. Once that problem is suitably put to rest, she will need to start chemotherapy, as the cancer is Stage IV, having spread at the cellular level to some internal tissue.

Pat’s spirits are holding up well, I think, and I am sure that the support she has gotten from her family and many friends has been a tremendous source of strength for her. Every bit counts in times like these.

Pat has always been a terrific mother-in-law to me and a fantastic grandmother for the kids. Her help and support, in particular during these last few years when my health has been sub-par, is appreciated beyond description. I hope that we can provide her with something close to that assistance as she starts her own cancer journey. With a few good breaks, there are still many reasons to believe that things will go well, but there will no doubt be some tough days ahead.

And, like with so many stressful things in life, a little humor goes a long way and we have had some good laughs at the predicament. My favorite so far is a quote from my 8 year old nephew, Nolan. His mom explained the hysterectomy surgery to him by going over the illustrations of the reproductive system in the health textbook he had from school. When Nolan later saw his grandmother, he wanted to be supportive and said “Grandma, I’m so sorry that you’re having trouble with your organ.” Couldn’t have said it better – those pesky organs!

Also – as a goof, Vicki had asked if there was such a thing as a “plush, uterus-shaped pillow” to get for grandma - like the plush heart-shaped pillow my father got from the hospital last year after his open-heart surgery. I scoffed at the idea, but evidently there is! See the picture above….go figure!!

In the future, I plan to blog, from time to time, about how she is doing. As I am coming up shortly on the 3rd anniversary of my diagnosis, I hope that three years from now, I will be sitting here blogging about her 3rd anniversary.