RECOLLECTION
Mom sent this text last night and I immediately went over to her house.
When I got there she had no recollection of the text and was sitting on the couch with her boyfriend Bill.
We went to the breakfast room and discussed what she was feeling. I Googled symptoms and was concerned enough to say we should go to the hospital, immediately. Mom was tired and begged to get one more sleep at home. We could go in the morning.
I begrudgingly agreed and showed up early this Saturday and took her to the Mercy West emergency room. They checked her vitals and immediately put her on a gurney and took her back. Her heart rate was off, I forget the exact specifics other than she was experiencing arrhythmia.
Medication would even things out but she needed to stay overnight. That turned into a week — a very hard week as she was confused and just wanted to go back home.
Eventually we’d take turns spending the night in her hospital room to make it easier for everyone involved.
The doctors released her after a battery of tests but didn’t mention the shadows on her scans. It wasn’t until I got mom in to see my family doctor that the alarm would be sounded. More tests followed but mom threw in the towel during an MRI.
There was enough information to reveal she had advanced pancreatic cancer.
My bother, sister and I found out sitting in my car on speakerphone in parking lot across from mom’s house.
She had weeks, maybe months, to live.
We broke down there in that parking lot, holding each other’s hands, crying.
Mom would be gone in 58 days.