[Guest Post]
Mom and I and Cancer. I live in Memphis, Tennessee with my brother.
My mother had breast cancer for more than three years. It started in the summer of 2006, she started getting some lumps in her breast and she wouldn't tell anyone. Instead she would keep it a secret and would start using herbal remedies that smelt awful, and then she started to seem very depressed and would ask me to pray for her. I didn't know what she wanted me to pray for, she only told me "just pray for me." It got to the point that I knew something was wrong and I confronted her.
September 2007 she went to a free clinic and was diagnosed with breast cancer. For one year she pulled off the "I can take care of it myself" attitude until she developed a second tumor inside the wall of her uterus and she couldn't walk well. I had to lay her down many times and cook for her although she really wanted to work around the house herself.
She still decided to do nothing about her condition and we my brother and I finally had enough. I urged her to go find a specialist, my brother even agreed to pay if insurance could not cover the whole cost. She found a good breast cancer specialist, and with insurance covered she was scheduled for surgery. The day of her surgery, we all waited patiently at school to see how she was doing.
Turns out she didn't go.
I was devastated. We decided not to argue anymore and instead tried to cheer her up, make her feel better. I bought her fruits, I made tried to spend more time with her and take her mind off her illness. In the end, she decided she had the courage to do the surgery and we went and scheduled it for November 2009. I met her at the hospital and she felt great to have people with her.
She confessed how sad she was and how lonely it can be to be to have an illness and not have the courage to talk about it with people. I told her not to worry. When she came back home we put her in the room with a bathrooom and situated the bed closer to the bathroom so she can move easily to and from the bathroom. We made sure she ate all her pills. She sometimes neglected to take some and we urged her to take them all.
It's going to be 1 year this November and she should be almost cancer free. She had the tumor in the uterus removed about 3 months back. I tell her not to take homeopathy medicine but she still does and I throw them away. It can mess with her hormones and such so I advise people against taking them. It's been 3 or more long years or constantly urging my mother to do the right thing and it finally paid off.
My mother is well, she exercises every morning to stay fit and she is happy.
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