Soo here's my first blog ever...Never thought I would do this but thought this might help with my thoughts, feelings, or whatever it is that bloggers do.  So here it goes....This summer has flown by, and not for good reasons.   This is how it all went down:


The night of June 2nd, I went out to dinner and movies with some friend's when my dad called me.  When my phone rang at 10:30 at night, I thought, "Why is he calling so late? He never does this." So I answered...


"Hey dad! What's up, I'm in the movies right now, can I call you back?" "No",  my dad replies, "your mom and I just came home from urgent care.  She was peeing blood.  Her blood pressure is really high, so I am going to send her to bed for the night, and we are going to the doctor tomorrow morning to see what is going on." 


I immediately started crying because I had this gut reaction that something was terribly wrong. I answered, "Why did they send her home with a blood pressure that high, and when did this all start?" Many more questions were asked, but my main concern was my mom. Was she okay? What was really going on? 


So the next morning, off we went to the emergency room.  My mom got her own private room, they started monitoring her vital signs, and an IV was placed as standard protocol for the ER.  


While we were waiting for the doctor to come in, we talked about our upcoming trip to Hawaii that we had planned to leave for in the next 3 days... Mom said she wanted to go to a luau, dad wanted to enjoy the relaxing beaches, and I wanted to swim with dolphins.  This was going to be our first family trip!  We were so excited, but we were a little worried that something was definitely wrong with mom.. Sooo the plan was to fix whatever was wrong, then go on our tropical vacation. 

But, as it turned out, we had the worst timing in the world.  


The doctor finally comes in and talks to her, checks out her high blood pressure on the monitor, and proceeds to say, "The blood work came out normal, you probably just have a kidney stone with the symptoms you are having.  I can prescribe you some medication for your high blood pressure and you can still go on your trip."   


Instantly I thought, "Yay!!".... but about 5 seconds later, I changed my mind... Although that would have been great news that we could still go on our family vacation, there were still pieces to the puzzle that needed to be addressed.


We need to know what is really going on with mom. She has never had blood pressure that high, there has to be something that is causing it, and we have to figure it out now. 


So I asked the doctor if there is any test that they could do to check her kidneys out, and he said a CT scan might help, but it wasn't necessary to have one at this point.  I looked at my parents and then looked at the doctor, and said, "Please can we get that CT scan now?"  Doctor replied, "Sure thing, I will order that for her."


So I walked mom to the CT scanning room, and gave her a kiss.  "See you in a couple minutes mom."


After the scan was complete, the wheeled her back to the room where she was placed back on the gurney bed to wait for the results.  


45 minutes go by so we wait, and wait, and wait some more... Then the nurse comes in and says that the MD and a Urologist will be coming in to speak with us..."Hmmm," I thought, "Why would the urologist need to see my mom?"


So finally in comes the doctor with a flat affect on his face, a look that he was going to deliver some pretty bad news... He looks into my mom's eyes as I am sitting there right next to her, holding her hand, and says, "The CT scan came up abnormal.  It looks like you have cancer in your left ureter."


Our smiles became flat, our emotions numb.  It was surreal. I held on to my mothers hand just a little stronger. She gave me a hug and a kiss, and I began to cry. Mom said, "It doesn't make sense, I've never drank or smoked. I've always taken care of myself. How did this happen?"  I replied, "I don't know either mom, I don't understand, all I know is that I love you mom."

Cancer has changed me and my families life forever.  Having a loved one diagnosed with cancer is something that I would never wish upon my worst enemy.  


So to sum everything up, these past two months we've gotten CT's, MRI's, blood work, consults, and massive surgery out of the way to remove the tumor (which she's recovered beautifully from) She's a fighter, and I know she will fight the fight that is coming her way.  


"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face." ~Eleanor Roosevelt