Yesterday my beautiful momma was moved from the 9th floor at Sacred Heart to the 7th floor, the oncology unit. It's one thing to be in the hospital and the feeling of sadness as you walk through the halls but a whole different feeling when you walk down the halls of patients who are ALL fighting cancer. The one thing I wasn't expecting to see was all the smiles, from nurses to patients (who were walking around with their chemotherapy IV drips) and family members supporting their loved ones. It's simply amazing what a smile can do to lift your spirits. My dad who has hardly left my mom's side needed a break and was happy to see me walk through the door of her hospital room. He left to go home and would return later that night.
My mom started her first round of chemotherapy last night. She had her port put in earlier that day and at 6:15pm we started the five and a half hour journey of giving her 3 different kinds of chemotherapy to fight this horrific disease. They gave her some saline first, then some nausea medicine, benadryl for any allergic reaction and then after 15 minutes came back to start her first of many IV drips of chemotherapy. The benadryl made her sleepy so she began resting when they first began. I was alone in the room with her and watched as the IV drip slowly worked its way into the tube and through her port. They gave her the highest dose you can, 3 weeks worth of chemotherapy at once. As I sat looking at my mom I couldn't help but fight back tears because I knew in that moment that this was the start of a hard battle. But as I looked at her a little more I was reminded that she is a fighter, the strongest, most optimistic, uplifting, selfless person I know.
After she woke up from her one hour nap, she looked at me and smiled. She sat up in her bed and wanted to eat some dinner. We talked, laughed and watched a little TV together. It's amazing how quickly 5 and a half hours can go when you are surrounded by people you love. A little after the last drip of chemotherapy was given, I kissed her forehead as she was peacefully sleeping and left. As I walked to my car at 2am I thought about how blessed I have been to have my mother in my life. I hope that one day I can be half the mother that she has been to me.
Our journey may have just started with her treatment and there will be some hard days ahead but I know that through this we will all become a little stronger, closer and appreciate life that much more.
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