March 23, 2024
Before I begin updates, here’s a little glimpse of the past week to catch you up to speed.
Tammy had been experiencing some health concerns before March, but we didn’t have any clue that they would be tied to something like cancer again. She had just come off Tamoxiphen, a breast cancer suppressant drug that she had been on since she beat cancer over a decade ago, and so we were still celebrating that cancer was no longer a part of her life. In the late fall, Tammy had felt a pop in her sternum that brought some of the most intense pain she had ever felt at that time. Not long after, her ribs were thrown out of place with no obvious cause, also causing extreme pain. In the beginning of March, she was experiencing severe abdominal pain in spurts. Right before she flew to Houston for a Stampin’ Up Conference last week, she finally had a CT Scan done, and we got the results while she was away on Thursday the 14th that her liver was “full of tumours”. At this point, we weren’t certain the tumours were cancerous, and were hopeful that it could be solved with surgeries. The thought of that alone brought us a lot of stress, because Tammy has had so many surgeries.
Her health declined rapidly in Houston and by the time she got back on Sunday night, we were convinced we needed to move quickly to get her help. Tammy’s pain was increasing but we weren’t able to get her in anywhere to obtain pain management or pursue treatment. On Monday, we had a horrific day in the Emergency unit of the hospital. Tammy could not handle the pain she was in but there was no other way to see a doctor. She was there for 13 hours, coming home at 3AM on Tuesday and heading back at 7:45AM for an ultrasound, which showed us evidence that the tumours were cancerous, and that it was in the bones as well.
Tuesday was very hard. Tammy had drugs for the pain and we spent a lot of time together as a family. The drugs helped her to socialize and although that was a blessing for us, it is hard for her to be on these hard drugs because she does’t feel present with us and they have scary side effects.
Wednesday, she was mostly knocked out and sleeping on the couch but was able to socialize a small amount with us and some of her dear friends who came to visit. That night she had begun increasing in scarier symptoms.
Over the week, we had been collecting prescriptions which helped manage ongoing pain and other side effects. This cocktail of drugs seemed to increase side effects that made everything feel even more scary.
Thursday was terrifying. I’ve never known my mom to only use 1 word to answer a question, or speak and not make razor-sharp sense. To not be able to walk in a straight line, or to sit up for more than a minute. To have shaky hands, to hear and see things that weren’t there. Although these pills were managing her pain, it was not exactly comforting. We have also been told some of her confusion and other symptoms may be from calcium release from the bone cancer, and they may be able to control that soon.
Yesterday morning, Friday March 22, Tammy had deceased so much in health and increased so much in new scary symptoms that we could not bear the thought of her getting any worse. You can read more about yesterday morning in the short post I made about it at the time (click here). In short, we had to call an ambulance and have been with her in the hospital since then. Jeff mostly is staying with her, while us kids are bringing them what they need and coming for short spurts so he can sleep. She can’t have any visitors right now, as we are trying to keep her stable enough to get through tests and move towards treatment. There’s lots of scans, blood work, and other things and these are so draining for her, so she needs to save her energy for them. She’s had X-Rays which helped us to see that some of the pain might be from water buildup in the cavities of her abdomen. We’ve also had more CT scans which we are waiting for results from.
If you’re wondering how to pray for us, right now, the honest truth is encouragement for our spirits. All 5 of us (and all her friends and family) are really sad. And scared. And tired.
And - of course for the doctors to know how to help Tammy so we can have more time with our mom. For a miracle. For her to be able to feel present with us and for us to receive moments where we see her sparkly personality shine through the symptoms and side effects. Those moments are fuel for our hearts. And, pray for her (and us) to receive comfort from Jesus her saviour.
We have had such a loving response from the community so far. I haven’t read anything to Tammy yet because she is feeling too unwell but we her family are reading everything, and I’m hoping to read them to her soon <3. Thank all of you so much for your care. It means the world to us.
