First trip to the Cancer Clinic

(this is purely about mom's cancer so please feel free to scroll on if it's not the topic for you. I understand)


In the dark of -40C temps, we drove in the early dark hours to the city to take mom to the Cancer Clinic. I had blankies for the back seat so they would be warm enough. Mom was sick to her stomach for quite a bit of the journey.

It was an overwhelming day. The people there are very good at what they do. We had our initial greeting and the nurse went over the clinic, basic info and gave us resources of who to contact.

Next was a visit to drug review where that nurse went over all the meds mom is currently on.

We headed next to phlebotomy and that nurse was very good at what she did.

Off next for a longer wait to see the oncologist. The nurse for this doctor was incredibly detail oriented and worked hard to read mom's body language as she answered questions.

The oncologist was also very good, but less people oriented. Her sole focus was mom and she seemed annoyed my sister and I were in the room and gave dark looks anytime we spoke. If she's good for mom, I can get over that.  The results of the  tests are Stage 4 cancer. We are waiting for the results of the biopsy from the 20th to determine the proper course of treatment, if any. These tests have to be sent out of province and should be back about the  9th ish.

We were  sent next to the radiologist for oncology. He was incredibly good with mom, with explaining things and with my sister and I. His focus was to treat the cancer in the eye. He repeated a few times that he can't cure her, but he can improve the quality of her life if the tumor behind her eye responds to the radiation. Mom agreed to this treatment.

Next we were off to the main part of the hospital for an xray of mom's hip, to find out what is bothering it, and if it's cancer. They were incredibly quick and efficient.

Back we went to the Clinic (the buildings are attached). The first meeting in radiation is to create a mask/form that will hold mom's head and neck in the same position each time. We were unable to do this as mom has a deep cough and wouldn't be able to hold still for the 20 min it takes to create this.

So off we headed home. All of us exhausted. Mom was so tired and needed her bed badly. She didn't cry once throughout this today, so I had to step away to do my own tears.

We left them in the hands of another sister and I came home to crash. I doubt I will be awake much longer. I haven't slept properly in days.