Family Illnesses

OK, well I've told you all about Len and I having colds, that's the least of what I've been dealing with lately.

My cousin is currently in the hospital battling for her life. She has breast cancer, it's metastisized to her chest wall, the base of her spine and her liver. So, they decided her treatment would start with chemo to get the metastisized cancers shrunk and then they'd go in and remove what they could, do a mastectomy and then do radiation and chemo to get rid of whatever they needed to. Well, they got the first chemo treatment done and before she could get back in for her second treatment (it should have been last Friday), she got admitted to the hospital again because of a build up of fluid in her lungs. So, last Thursday she got admitted, put into ICU so that they could monitor her, by Saturday morning, she's been intubated and she has an infection in her blood. I can't go to see her or her children, she has 8 aged 17-36 because of this cold - I can't risk passing any germs to anyone and have her get sicker. My Mom has told me that she's doing a little better, she was off the ventilator for about 2 hours today, but she got agitated so they sedated her and put the forced oxygen back on. She's responding to the nurses when they talk to her. Well, we are just waiting to see how things pan out from here. She has to get over this infection. They've started her on dialysis, her kidneys are having to work too hard to get rid of the fluid to let her body fight the infection. The hardest thing for this family is that they just lost their father, my cousin's husband, in February to Colon Cancer. They are doing a Colon Cancer walk tomorrow.

Then, I find out from another cousin earlier this week that she found a lump in her breast. She lost her mother to breast cancer in 1997 when she was pregnant with her second child. She's going to see the surgeon for a consult for a biopsy on Tuesday so we'll know what we're facing then. She's not worrying too much at this point, but her father is very concerned. And she has 4 boys between the ages of 4 and 13 at home and her husband travels a lot. She's also out in Indiana where we can't really help her a whole lot. I'm going to make her a prayer shawl so that I can do something, anything to help.

I hate feeling helpless and for the past 2 years as my family has been dealing with illnesses and death (we lost a cousin last March to lung cancer, an aunt in April to old age, then a cousin this February to colon cancer), that's all I've been feeling. Though I know they are in Heaven with Jesus Christ and our family, it doesn't really make it easier.

We did get some good news, though this was from my father's side, the rest is from my mother's side. One of my cousins just had a new little boy the beginning of this month, her 4th child, 2nd son.

I could really use some more happy news from anyone, especially some from my mother's side of the family.

So, if anyone actually reads my blog, please keep my cousin, her children and her doctors in your prayers.