Yesterday afternoon, my beautiful, wonderful, invincible Mum told me she has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She was being investigated for gall stones and it was during the ultra sound scan, shadows were noted on her liver. Further tests have shown she has multiple metastises (secondary tumours) on her liver which are inoperable. She is going to have a colonoscopy next thursday as the general feeling is she has got a primary tumour in her bowel. Palliative treatment has been discussed but she is very clear that this will not cure her of the cancer. She is such a brave woman. She has managed to keep all this to herself until now. She hasn't wanted to worry any of the family. She has even kept it from my Dad and they are such a close team.
We are all utterly utterly devastated. She is only 61 and I can't bear the thought of losing her. I'm now a MW but worked as an RN many moons ago and I know potentially how little time she has left. She hasn't gone into the realms of life expectancy with her consultant yet and I'm certainly not going to tell her.
My DH and my Dad have been away and only came back this morning. My poor Dad crumpled when Mum told him...I've never seen him cry before. Never in a million years did I think that either of my parents would be going this soon and that I would have the need to write anything on this thread.
My parents haven't told my brother or my two sisters yet but I have promised Mum that I will be strong and support them and be what ever she needs me to be.
Of course we are going to make the most of the time we have left but I keep getting side swiped by grief. I have a photo of me, Mum and Dad in a frame on the landing and yesterday when I glanced at it, it suddenly hit home that in a few months this is all we're going to have left.
I apologise for the long ramble