May, 9 th - 2008
Update on Inger's surgery
Mom had requested that I send out another update as she finds it difficult to write how she is doing, in a way that is easy to understand.
So, her surgery (double mastectomy) will have been three weeks now, this Monday. She was able to get all of her drains pulled out last week, much to her relief, as she had been dreading getting that done. She had to be placed on double antibiotics last week, for an infection in her incision on the right side. She still has quite a bit of pain and is daily battling nausea and dizziness. She is to start Physical Therapy soon, as the use of her right arm has been affected, but her left arm is nearly back to normal.
Emotionally, I feel this is taking a toll on her. She is a very strong person, but it is overwhelming sometimes, to handle and cope with! She is easily tearful and I'm sure is feeling frightened. She tries very hard to hold a strong front, but is fragile, in many ways...tough old bird that she is!
She is surrounded by people who tend to her. She has someone in the house with her day and night. Right now she has friends who came from Montana (?), the Neufeld's, people she has known for 30 years. This week, Dina and Fred come from Texas. Janie, John and Tim are also so very helpful, along with the folks on the farm, who are checking in on her as well, and all together, we make it work. I personally am VERY grateful to everyone who has given so generously of their time and care to take care of her. It would have been difficult to do this without all of this support!
She did see the Oncologist on Monday. The report was not good. They removed 17 lymph nodes total. Of the 17 nodes, the first ten were cancerous along with the golf ball sized lymph node that had been removed in March, with the initial lumpectomy. Some of the lymph nodes were not intact which means the cells within the lymph nodes have "escaped", for lack of a better word.
The Oncologist gave her three options. The first two involved hormone therapy, as the cancer cells are hormone receptive. The only option he felt offered her any chance of survival is chemotherapy, and she does not want to do that. He feels the cancer will come back, and that it is only a matter of time.
She has done a remarkable job with making dietary changes. She has cut out all white sugar, white flour, dairy and red meats from her diet. She lives on fruits, vegetables and only eats breads that she makes herself. She takes in no caffeine and drinks fresh smoothies daily, with natural supplements. She truly believes that this will make a difference. She has a willpower to get her body nutritionally at 100% - and I am impressed!
Our role now is to support her in this, and I feel that if Mom had chemotherapy, it would be worse for her than without it. I am not opposed to chemotherapy, as I myself had it, but some people do better with it than others. I do think it would make Mom extremely ill and maybe even shorten her days. She is the first one to admit that she does not do well with nausea and other GI symptoms, along with losing her hair!
We do need to get her into a one level house of some sort. The farm house will be too much for her to manage. There are a few options before us, one is that she would like to move into Grandma Esther's cabin, and that would be a feasible option ,but it would need work. There is a young man from Connecticut who does home repairs for a living, and he has offered to come and help fix up a house for mom, but he would need helping hands, and we would need the financing for this to be provided! She would like to add two rooms to the house, one for laundry and another bedroom, along with winterizing it. She prefers to stay on the farm, and I would like to her to do that as well, but we will need help from others!! Let me know if this is something you feel to be a part of.
The other request she has made is to let you all know that we fully plan to hold a Ben Israel weekend in September. She had been hoping to hold a Memorial Weekend at the one-year anniversary from when Dad was called home to the Lord, on June 28th. With all that has happened, it will just not be feasible. So...mark your calendars for Labor Day Weekend! EVERYONE is invited and it would be blessing to have as many come as can make it. This also will need MUCH help from others. We would like to use the Lodge, and it will take plenty of helping hands to get this done. More to come on this!
One final note, as this is already longer than I had expected. For those of you that know the Petter's family, a long time family associated with Ben Israel and the ministry, and friends to my parents and many of you...Rick Sr. has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. They thought he had a stroke initially and they found the tumor on the Cat Scan. He has gone into a coma and is at a VA hospital in Indiana. Sandy, of course, is with him. Barring a miracle, it seems he too will be called home to be with the Lord in a short time. I am sure your prayers would be greatly appreciated!
So much sadness and sorrow, but in Him, we live and move and have our being!
Blessings!
Sissie (Christina)