- Joined
- Nov 6, 2006
- Messages
- 3,050
- Purraise
- 3
My mother comes from a large family - in total, she has 10 siblings. Out of these 10 siblings, she has already lost one brother to cancer, and one sister to illness.
A year ago, my third aunt discovered a tumour growing on her spine. She had been suffering from back pains, but put it off to growing old pains (she is in her late sixties). One fine day she collapsed and was not able to get up, so was sent to the hospital where they discovered the tumour.
She had a risky operation to remove the tumour back then, and though the spine is a really tricky area, the docs managed to remove most of the tumour without any nerve damage. After the operation, over many months, my poor aunt has been undergoing chemo to try and kill all the cancer cells ravaging her. Unfortunately, each time there seemed to be good news, the darned cells would come back somewhere else.
My aunt is such a fighter, she just never gives up. Each time I visited her at her home, she would be all smiles, and with such positive attitude. She was never negative about this scary illness, and spoke of the future, like how she has to exercise her limbs otherwise in future she would be an invalid (drugs have weakened her arms and legs).
On 1 Oct, she went to hospital for yet another bout of chemo. This time though, she somehow fell into a sort of coma. She was hardly lucid, uttering incomprehensible sounds, could not recognize anyone. I thought that was it, that she was going to go soon.. But nope! She woke up from her coma after a few days and was able to talk to us. Her speech had slowed down considerably, her vision had gone all wonky (she sees double) and her limbs were all swollen. But heck, I was happy she was awake!
We thought she might be able to be discharged from hospital soon, but infection after infection came, weakening her still further. Till today, she's still in hospital. Yesterday, my uncle (her husband) called to say they'd discovered she contracted a blood infection and things don't look good at all. I haven't seen her yet, I think I'll go after work.
Cancer is really a $hitty disease that sucks you dry from inside out - both physically and emotionally. My aunt had been a teacher all her life, and a very good, well-respected teacher too. She had just retired and was looking forward to relaxing for once in her life, and this had to happen.
I'm just really sad. She's my favourite aunt. Need vibes for her and her husband and son. I cannot imagine what they have been going through over the past months, and how upset they must be right now.
A year ago, my third aunt discovered a tumour growing on her spine. She had been suffering from back pains, but put it off to growing old pains (she is in her late sixties). One fine day she collapsed and was not able to get up, so was sent to the hospital where they discovered the tumour.
She had a risky operation to remove the tumour back then, and though the spine is a really tricky area, the docs managed to remove most of the tumour without any nerve damage. After the operation, over many months, my poor aunt has been undergoing chemo to try and kill all the cancer cells ravaging her. Unfortunately, each time there seemed to be good news, the darned cells would come back somewhere else.
My aunt is such a fighter, she just never gives up. Each time I visited her at her home, she would be all smiles, and with such positive attitude. She was never negative about this scary illness, and spoke of the future, like how she has to exercise her limbs otherwise in future she would be an invalid (drugs have weakened her arms and legs).
On 1 Oct, she went to hospital for yet another bout of chemo. This time though, she somehow fell into a sort of coma. She was hardly lucid, uttering incomprehensible sounds, could not recognize anyone. I thought that was it, that she was going to go soon.. But nope! She woke up from her coma after a few days and was able to talk to us. Her speech had slowed down considerably, her vision had gone all wonky (she sees double) and her limbs were all swollen. But heck, I was happy she was awake!
We thought she might be able to be discharged from hospital soon, but infection after infection came, weakening her still further. Till today, she's still in hospital. Yesterday, my uncle (her husband) called to say they'd discovered she contracted a blood infection and things don't look good at all. I haven't seen her yet, I think I'll go after work.
Cancer is really a $hitty disease that sucks you dry from inside out - both physically and emotionally. My aunt had been a teacher all her life, and a very good, well-respected teacher too. She had just retired and was looking forward to relaxing for once in her life, and this had to happen.
I'm just really sad. She's my favourite aunt. Need vibes for her and her husband and son. I cannot imagine what they have been going through over the past months, and how upset they must be right now.
