Today my mom woulda be 86

[Ruth]

(02-22-2016, 05:21 PM)Catherine Wrote:

Quote: I sincerely hope medical research can get to grips with cancer prevention. Cancer and Alzheimer's are, I feel, the two illnesses that will cause mankind the most trouble as populations age.

Cibach it was wonderful that you could be there are say the things that needed to be said. You went through the loss as a process and it has left you at peace. It is hard to believe it has almost been a year. Time seems to stop when someone is dying and it seems to race after they are gone.
Ruth, your mother did well that she had eight years after the first treatment. Some cancers do come back. I don't know if chemo would have helped. Sometimes it does, but it is a very harsh treatment and sometimes a person does not want to go through it.
I don't know if I would want to go through it. It is a personal decision that no one can make unless they are the one facing the chemo.
We find cures and treatments for cancer, but we don't have a fix yet. Someday we will figure out why cancer happens. Then we can find out how to have it not happen.

When she first had cancer they offered her radiation therapy.  She heard bad things about that and didn't want it.  Later they offered her some kind of pills and they made her horribly ill so she stopped taking them.  She wanted hospice for her end of life.  They kept her very comfortable and checked on her often.  I visited her, too.  I can't talk about it any more.