Another Yemma Update

Yemma went to the doctor today to review the pathology results and get some more info about the game plan. (She also got her staples removed.) We found out that the cancer is Stage 3C, which is pretty far along but not the worst it could be. They confirmed that the origin was in the ovaries, and then it spread to the rest of her reproductive system and up into her abdomen. The only cancer that the doctor was not able to remove was some granules (eww) in the omentum. That's what the chemo is for.

Speaking of chemo, I'm sad to say that they've decided that the best course of action is to inject the drugs not only into her abdomen, but also intravenously. I don't know what changed their minds. The nurse told my mom that she will lose all of her hair after the second round. I'm not sure why, but they weren't told and didn't ask how long the chemo will take. It will be six rounds, but I'm not sure if it's one round per week or what. She's going to a chemo info session in a week or two and will find out more at that time.

My grandma (Gra) asked the doctor whether the cancer was in the lymph nodes, and the doctor said she wasn't sure and that it would have taken another hour of surgery to figure that out. I ask myself, "So what? Isn't that a pretty important thing to figure out?" However, I'm only hearing bits and pieces of info so I know there must be things I'm missing. I also know this doctor has done this before so I'm guessing she has no reason to think that it is in the lymph nodes. That answer was kind of offputting to me, though.

I'm glad that my mom and I are being so open with each other through this. We talk about how we are really leaning on our faith during this time and (thankfully) have a lot of peace about it, but of course it's still scary at times too. For the most part, we are feeling okay, but whenever we hear people tell us how scared/worried they are, or when they call one of us sobbing, that's when it's easy to start freaking out. I know that people have our best interest at heart, but I also kind of want to know what they think they are accomplishing by telling my mom that they cry themselves to sleep over this. Maybe they think she will take that as a sign of concern, but for her, it has more of an "Oh, so should I be scared too? Does this mean I'm no-doubt-about-it-dying?" effect. On the day I found out about the cancer (actually a couple of hours after), I got a call from someone crying their eyes out. It was like this person was already mourning my mom. THAT was scary.

I'm not targeting anyone specific whom I know reads my blog, but I would like to politely request that all communication with my mom be generally optimistic. Of course it's okay to be realistic and talk about fears too, but it doesn't do any good to play the "What if?" game. I would also advise anyone to stay away from Google when it comes to this. Ryan shared with me an article in which the person had had a loved one with ovarian cancer and that person went on to live as it if had never happened. In the article, the author stated that she believes that more people go onto the internet with horror stories than with positive stories, so it only looks like it's all terrible. I thought that was a good point and I'm hoping she's right.

I guess we will just continue to take it one day at a time and, as always, pray, pray, pray. Thank you all so much for your continued concern and support.