The Good News Is, My Mother-In-Law Survived The Weekend

[dr_pretentious]

It sounds like it ought to be the opening to some Borscht Belt comedian's stand-up routine, doesn't it? I wish it were funny.

George once told me, "Beating the lung cancer was easy--it was the pneumonia afterward that almost killed me." (If you smoke, please quit.) And that's pretty much where my mother-in-law is right now, except that she also has brain cancer. (Yes, I know that quitting smoking is one of the hardest things a person can do, harder than I can possibly imagine. Please try anyway.)

The current crisis is going pretty well. Every day, some major indicator improves--oxygen absorption, blood sugar, mental clarity. We'd all be feeling great about her progress, if it weren't for the awareness that this crisis will be, at best, the first of many.

Even if she doubles her oncologist's most optimistic guess, she won't be around long enough for my son to remember her fierce intelligence, her endless fascination with the American Revolution, the joy she takes in a table-thumping political argument. She'll be a character in family stories recounted in layers of interruption and elaboration over the Thanksgiving table, a collection of photographic images, an MP3 file of a laugh punctuated with coughing.

(If you smoke, please, please quit.)

Comments

[kistha.livejournal.com]

Love.

[vgnwtch.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that her quality of life is improving at the moment.

I'm thinking of you all.

[citabria]

Just in case I haven't said this before, I am so, so sorry that both of you are needing to deal with this right now.

I'm sending many hugs to both of you.

[amheriksha.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry this is happening! Dealing with an ill loved one is always hard.

I can say that videos help a lot. One of my friends lost someone dear to her through cancer when she was young, and the videos helped her remember. I hope things go as well as they can. *hug*

[jasminewind.livejournal.com]

Come what may, I'm glad things are improving for now.

I'm glad that your family will remember her fondly, too many people forget their happy memories when someon dies.

I'm sure you had lots of family support in MD, but it did make me a little sad to think that your family was there and I wasn't able to see you and hold Gareth and help you out somehow. Are you still there?

(and if you smoke, please quit)

[joyfulorb.livejournal.com]

Heart-felt good wishes, from me and mine to you, and yours. I'm glad you have good stories and she's still laughing. Hugs.

[(Anonymous)]

Not at the moment, but we've been up and down I-95 a lot lately, and I expect we'll be back down there soon. I had hoped to get in touch with the DC area groves and see if any of the Imbolc rituals had room for a couple of hospital-weary travelers and a baby, but we turned out to be too exhausted for ritual anyway.