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Her back was bothering her on May 1st after weeding and the doc said to take some Tylenol. On May 6th she drove herself in for her quarterly blood work. On the 12th, she had me take her in because her back wasn't getting any better, and she was using a cane to help walk.
(At 91.5 years old she still drove, shopped and kept up with the flower beds around the house on the 10 acres that she lived on by herself after Dad passing 2 years ago.)
The Doc gave her some Prednisone and a low dose opioid for the pain and said if she didn't get better in 4-5 days to call and they'd see her right away. The doc did that because mm had a slightly elevated liver count and it was thought the Tylenol was the culprit.
Well, Mom is a stubborn old gal and she waited 9 days before calling the doc. My sister took her in and by now she was needing to use a walker. This was on May 21st.
The doc said she didn't like the looks of Mom - she was slightly jaundiced, and said I need to take another blood test and I want you to have a CAT Scan, which will be in a few days. By the time my sister got mom home from that Dr. visit, there was a voice mail message saying Mom was scheduled for a Cat Scan the next morning. At 1:15 pm that day, (May 22nd) the doc called me and said that mom had cancer,and after poking and prodding she said it was Stage 4 and she said Mom had between 2 weeks and 2 months. That was the Friday before Memorial Day and the doc said she'd get Mom into an Oncologist on Tuesday.
The oncologist said initially she had 6 months, but that if nothing was done about the jaundice that she'd be itching uncontrollably within 2 weeks. There was a tumor in the Pancreas, a 4cm x 4 cm tumor on the right lobe of her liver, a 4cm x 3 cm tumor on the left lobe and rumors in her lymph system in the abdomen. He suggested some tests and a liver stent was scheduled for that Friday, May 29th. They put the stent in by going through her mouth, no cutting was needed. Her cancer markers in the blood were over 140,000.
Mom didn't want to go into any assisted care, and we didn't want her to do that because we couldn't see her. So Hospice was called, and I lived with her for the last 10 days 24/7 being her caregiver. On Friday June 5th we finally had a caregiver start to give me a break and to help take care of Mom. It wasn't 5 hours after she started that Mom passed away, 5 minutes shy of the "2 week" time frame that the family doctor gave us.
I have jewelry that was made from flower petals from both of my grandmothers funerals and my Dads funeral. With Mom passing, and her viewing/service this past Friday, I have some flowers that I saved.
All the jewelry that I have is a very dark, almost black color. I saved some flowers that were white, and a bright red color. I'd like to get a set of cuff links and a tie tack in something other than a dark color.
Has anybody used a place for something like that? If so, and if you were satisfied with what you received, can you please tell me who you used?
Thanks,
Scott
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