The Cactus in Arizona
Mom and I
After going to Idaho to drop off Julie, then flying home and being
an empty nester for 3 days, I flew off to Arizona to be with my
Mom while she underwent low dose chemo treatments in Phoenix,
Arizona. I had told her that I would stay for 6 weeks, as long as
we could drive to my home every couple of weeks. So we came
home for Grace's primary program, then we drove home for
Grace's 5th birthday. That was nice. My Mom and I went
shopping for Christmas gifts, we tried to find food that
sounded good to her waning appetite, we swam, we visited
with Christine and Andy B. We tried to make the most of
our time in Arizona. My Mom struggled after
a few weeks with the treatment. She felt like it was so harsh.
It even made her lose some of her hair. But every Monday
and Thursday when she got the low dose chemo, she would
get horribly nauseated. So after week 5, she went in and told
them she didn't feel well enough to have another treatment.
It's a good thing, because the next day, she had a slight fever
that then escalated to 102.5 that evening, and was the same
the next day, then the next it was 103.5 and then on Friday,
my Mom seemed really unstable, so I called my Aunt Renae
and told her what was going on, and she told me to get her
into the E.R. immediately. So when my Mom got admitted
to the E.R. her temp was 104.1 and she was in shock and
septic. Oh My Word! Talk about scary. Then they took an
X-ray of her lungs and she had double pnuemonia. The next
day when I went to the hospital to see her, she scared me
even more. She didn't feel like she could catch her breath,
so they almost intubated her. But thankfully, the bipap
machine changed that, and it helped her to feel like she could
get enough oxygen. My Aunt Renae flew down from Utah to
be there with me. We both were glad that each other was
there. We didn't feel like we could do it alone. My Mom got
a priesthood blessing that told her that her body would heal.
Each day after my Aunt got there, I felt like my Mom was
making steady progress, and after one week, she was released
from the hospital. What a great day. Mel drove in that Friday
to help me get things settled with my Mom, and then we left
the next morning to go home. I'm grateful for that time I had
to spend with my Mom. But by golly, it's good to be home!
