The past seven months have been quite the roller coaster. Back in April, my grandma was out in her backyard re-potting plants and flowers that had grown too big for the planters that they were originally planted in. She felt a pull on the left side around her hip and groin area and the next day couldn't even walk. She went to the doctor and they first told her that she had probably pulled and very badly strained her muscles and ligaments. They gave her some pain medicine and told her to stay off of it as much as possible. She slowly began to be able to walk with a cane, but she still had shooting pains around her left side and it was now going into her pelvic area. This time, her doctor wanted to do a CAT scan as well as an MRI to see if something else might be going on. And, that's when they found it. She had a mass on her left ovary that was probably around the size of a grapefruit. Immediately, she was recommended to a specialist in San Antonio that has amazing credentials and our journey/battle with my grandma's cancer began.
Before they even did a biopsy, the doctor/specialist told my grandma it was cancer. The biopsy confirmed what we all feared. It was time to talk about what all the options were from surgery, chemo, radiation, or nothing at all. My grandma is 80 years old, but as healthy as a horse. She is very active and strong and all the tests they ran on her heart and her physical strength proved that as well. However, the tumor was so large, none of us really knew what the best option was. The doctor immediately ruled out surgery. He said that before he would even discuss surgery, he would need to do chemo treatments on her to try and shrink the tumor. Radiation was also not an option because there was also "caking" around her intestines. Chemo was the best option to try and shrink the tumor as well as reduce the "caking" that had grown around her intestines. My dad was with her at all the appointments leading up to her final decision on what she felt like she needed to do. Of course, one option was to simply not do anything at all. The doctor would never say how long she would have if she did or didn't do anything. But from the way he talked, we feared we wouldn't have her around much longer either way. We were also scared that if she decided to go through with chemo treatments and then possibly surgery, the recovery would just be too much for her. Even with how strong she is, that's a lot to take for someone that's my age...much less an 80 year old woman.
My grandma is such a fighter. She made the decision to start chemo treatments with the hope of eventually being able to have surgery to remove the tumor and the caking. The surgery would would also involve a total hysterectomy. All of this has major side effects as well as possible complications and a long recovery, but we knew who would be seeing this through and put everything in His hands to take care of. She began chemo treatments in August after an entire summer of testing, evaluations, research, appointments, etc. The doctor wanted to do three rounds of chemo, check to see if the tumor had shrunk, and then re-evaluate their plan. Originally, he wanted to do six chemo treatments and then check to see if the tumor had shrunk, but he felt certain that it would shrink significantly after three. And so the treatments started. Every 21 days she went to San Antonio for treatments. My dad was with her every step of the way, and my aunt went to as many appointments as she could as well. The treatments lasted for about six hours, most of which my grandma was able to sleep through and get some rest. Only once or twice did she feel nauseous from the treatments, which is so lucky. She was able to eat, her appetite was a little different, but she still ate and was able to keep everything down and eat almost as normal as she did before the treatments. She lost a lot of her hair, but not all of it. The only thing she really complained about was being tired and not having the energy to do the things that she used to do. That is God having a healing hand on someone. You just don't hear about chemo treatments going that well for a young person, much less an older woman. I'm telling...she's a tough old bird!
After the three rounds of chemo, it was time for a check up to see if the tumor had shrunk. I kid you not, that tumor had shrunk to a fourth of it's original size. So, if it was about the size of a grapefruit when we first found out, I believe my dad said that it had shrunk down to the size of a ping-pong ball or golf ball. Once again...God performing miracles. The doctor told her that he wanted to schedule surgery and proceed with removing the tumor, caking, and a hysterectomy. Surgery was scheduled for October 28th and we all made plans to take off work and be there throughout this procedure. My parents left on Thursday night so that they, and my aunt, could take her down to San Antonio and be there throughout all the pre-op. Cody, myself, and Michael left on Friday afternoon around 4:00 to make our way there as well. The surgery was originally scheduled for 11:00...but she wound up being taken back for surgery about 3:00. We got to Kerrville around 7:30, dropped all of our stuff off at her house, picked up my cousin and flew to San Antonio. It's only forty-five minutes away, but we wanted to get there as quickly as possible. About half-way there, my dad texted us and said that she was out of surgery and they had gotten everything...everything! When we got there, she had just been taken to her room and was awake and talking to everyone. She was still a little loopy from the drugs, but very much aware that we were all there and that she had been healed by the hands of God and the amazing doctors that were given these God-given talents. We all left about an hour later to head back to Kerrville. The next day, we woke up early and headed back to the hospital to be there with her and just sit and visit for awhile. We weren't sure how long she would have to stay in the hospital, so we wanted to be there as much as possible. She was able to sit up in the bed and eventually moved to the chair so she could sit and eat some lunch. The doctor came in to see and check on her around 11:00 and told her that everything went perfectly and that he was able to get everything. He was also able to perform a less invasive surgery so that the recovery wouldn't be as intensive. With all that said, he also said that she could come home that day! How crazy is that?!?!? She just had major surgery and was going to be released at 3:00...not even 24 hours after she had been in post-op. After hearing that, we went and ate some lunch, then came back and started getting ready for her to be home.
Cody and I left the hospital a little earlier than everyone else so that we could get back to her house, make her bed for her, do some laundry, and get dinner started. My parents were going to head back to Kerrville with my grandma after she was released, so we wanted her to be able to just come in, get in bed, and rest. In the meantime, and this is cruddy news, my parents car got broken into. All of my dad's hunting stuff was stolen, including his bow. The people who broke in busted out one of the back windows and took about $2,000 worth of stuff from their car, including a knife I gave him when I was five. It was a total shock to all of us, especially my parents. They have gotten everything taken care of, it just stinks that people are capable of such things. However, we had so much to be thankful for, and it really helped us to put things into perspective as to what is really important in life. And that's God, our family, friends, and the relationships that we have with them.
The rest of the weekend, which was Saturday night and Sunday, was spent making sure that my grandma wouldn't have to lay a single finger until she was fully recovered. The doctor said it would be about two weeks, which is amazing, until she would be able to move around or lift anything like she had before the surgery. My mom and I went to the store for her and bought tons of groceries so that she wouldn't have to go to the store for awhile. We also bought food to make five different meals. Because she wasn't supposed to be on her feet for long periods of time, we didn't want her in the kitchen trying to cook meals. So, we made pasta primavera, enchilada casserole, Mexican spaghetti, chicken casserole with bread crumb topping, and plain old spaghetti. We separated them out into about ten different pans that could be frozen, so she could have meals as well as leftovers for a long time. It was busy, but also fun. We were all crowded around in the kitchen cooking, talking, and laughing with each other. More than anything we were thankful and overjoyed that God had healed her and had allowed everything to go so seamlessly. Grandma will have three more rounds of chemo just to make sure that any microscopic cells are treated. After that, she will just have routine appointments to make sure that it hasn't come back. Our God is such an awesome God! We thank Him everyday for the simple things in life that we take for granted as well as the miraculous healings that He still performs to this day.
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