YIPPY, A VACATION

[betsyabel]

Well if you know me at all, you know my mom's had a hellish last few months.  If you don't know me...let me explain.

Seven years ago when I was pregnant with my DS my mom was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. She fought it like mad and won the battle :-)  My mom, sister and I had been talking for some time about taking a vacation together to the Florida Keys, so when we were each financially able to do it we did, that was four years ago this coming January.  About a month after that, my mom went on vacation with her siblings to the US Virgin Islands.  When she came home she said, "if we can ever pull off a vacation again, that's where we are going".

Well, this past June, a week before my mom's 60th birthday and two months after she was finally successful and quitting smoking, she was diagnosed with lung cancer.  Her doctor was very negative and did not treat her well.  He was sort of smug about it all in a "you deserve this because you smoked" kind of way.  Well my mom didn't need that, she felt bad enough, she knew she had done it to herself.  This dr wanted to immediately start an every day for 6 weeks chemo and radiation treatment.  My mom got a 2nd opinion.  The new dr was like a breath of fresh air.  He's very positive and wanted to actually go in and do a biopsy on the lymph-nodes first and then well he was in there if there was none on the nodes he would move on with surgery.  Well we got the word 2 hrs into the surgery that he was moving on with it...we were sooooo excited!  Except only an hour after that he came out and said that once he got in there, there was one spot on her bronchial tube...so he had already made the 12 inch incision and cracked two ribs to get in there...but surgery wouldn't work, he felt terrible.

Of course, mom woke up feeling all that pain and thought it was all over...well being the woman she is, she took the news well and has done her radiation and chemo and is on the road to recovery...now

the vacation!  We've booked it, a beautiful villa with our own pool and hot tub on the island of St. John for one whole week in February.  We need this time together, we are the best of friends and I'm sooooo excited!!!  To go from a Minnesota winter into the beautiful, sunny and warm Virgin Islands.  I'm already counting the days :-)

The view off the deck of our villa :-)

[livewell]

Nov. 16, 2009 at 7:54 AM

That is awesome! Good thoughts to your mom - this doctor sounds good and she CAN beat this :)