Watching my Aunt battle cancer

This weekend my mom and I drove to Fort Wayne to visit my aunt, who was recently in the hospital.

She was diagnosed in February with breast cancer, during her baseline mammogram. Since it is an agressive ductal cancer they have since performed a bi-lateral mastectomy. During the surgery they discovered that the cancer has also spread to her sentinal nodes. We are still waiting for the results that reveal if it has spread beyond her lymphnodes.

It’s hard to wrap your brain around what is happening to her. She’s young, early 40s. She has three kids – 19, 16 and 11. She herself is a nurse. This isn’t supposed to happen. Now she is fighting for her life.

She’s used to fighting for other people. Her oldest child was diagnosed with diabetes at 3. She became a nurse and diabetic educator because of him. Now she helps other families cope with this life-changing dianosis.

Now she is completely out of control and powerless over what is happening in her own body. Seeing her scars today was hard. It is reality that this disease is taking over her life and the life of her family. Her kids are scared. Her husband is stressed and devastated.

But she soldiers on. Her attitude is fantastic. She is positive, upbeat and ready to fight. She is bound and determined to kick cancer’s ass. It’s amazing to see. She refuses to lay down and take it.

She knows a large part of this battle is in her mind. She kept telling me today that she feels peaceful and is picturing God holding her in the palm of his hand. What a beautiful picture! She knows the source of her comfort, strength and healing.

As her niece, I feel helpless. What can I do? You feel like you need to do something. Once she knows when she’s going to do chemo I might come and stay with her a few days a week. I’ve promised to help her find beautiful scarves. I will laugh with her, cry with her, comfort her and care for her. That is what family is all about.

The great thing is we’re all fighting for the chance to do that for her. We just want her to be well. My heart is just heavy. Watching her kids rally around her today just broke my heart. They just wanted to be near her. You could also see them will her to be fine. I can’t imagine the fear they carry.

But the battle is on! I want to find a good daily devotional for her, to keep her thinking good thoughts.

Filed under: Health, Mi Familia , aunt, breast cancer, chemotherapy, lymphnodes, mastectomy, niece

Prescription for More Sun

I went to the doctor today knowing that I would be spoken to very harshly.

I have a standing appointment every three months to get my A1C checked, which determines how my blood sugars are doing for that period. Well I knew my numbers were going to be up. Back in December, when we were working 16 hour days, I ate a lot of fast food, took my meds at odd times and had very little sleep. I also know my sugars were up because I’ve been very fatigued, going to the bathroom more and thirstier. So I braced myself for the worst but went anyway cause I needed refills on my prescriptions.

The nice thing about my doctor is that he will at least see how I’m doing before he tells me I’m a terrible patient and killing myself. Well as I thought, my A1C was up to 9.6, a point and a half higher than three months ago. The goal is below seven. But rather than yell at me he told me that in addition to the usual tests he also had my vitamin D level checked. Huh?

It seems that Vitamin D is required by the pancreas to make and release insulin, critical for those with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Well normal levels are 32-35, mine was 6. So I have to take a super-duper prescription dosis of vitamin d for a month to see if my numbers increase. It also helps regulate sleep, weight, moods and energy. Wow, that’s big responsibility for one little vitamin.

Vitamin D is not something we readily gain in food it is instead made in the body by cholesterol. It is activated by ultraviolet light (the sun), aaahh the problem. I live in Ohio the cloudy capital of America. I asked him if he could write me a prescription to move to California. He didn’t think that was funny.

I did a google search and discovered that foods high in vitamin d, besides milk are salmon, shrimp, cod, and boiled eggs. I guess I’m going to be drinking a lot of milk.

It will be interesting to see what happens in my body once my levels start to increase. Who knows I might become a pollyanna and take over the world.

Filed under: Health , A1C, diabetes, insulin, pancreas, vitamin D deficiency

Hold that thought

I was going to write my post for today but was called to take my mom to the ER. Kidney stone.

Gotta go

Filed under: Health, Mi Familia