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carsam
03-10-2009, 10:36 AM
Friends...

Needing some prayers right now.......

I am down to almost 3 weeks till baby is born......as you know the last few weeks have been very hard, thanks to all of you again for your support. I believe I told you in my last posts that mom had her yearly mammogram coming up, among all the tension that was going on. Well today, we got the results, and she has to go back for another X-ray of the same side, and an "ultrasound" of the "other" side. Mom has had breast cancer twice in the same side. These are again, "clarification" tests, but we have been through some that turned out "ok", and some that were "not okay". She has never had any issues with anything on her other side.....this is the first time she's ever been called back to check on that side. It may turn out fine, but as I said, we've had times when it hasnt. Why could it not have for once just gone smoothly? I've been doing really well, trying to keep the whole situation in perspective in light of the fact that I'm about to have this baby in a few weeks. Grandma is still not eating barely a bite, so that situation is tenuous on any day.....you never know what day could be her last.
Am I wrong to just wish for a bit of peace? For something to go smoothly that I dont "have" to think about? That I dont "have" to try and put out of my mind because I'm having this baby. I just want this baby's birth to be such a happy thing, and not be fighting to ignore all this other crap around me. I just want some peace.....I know there is the possibilty that things will be fine....but anyone who's been through this stuff knows the waiting is stressful....especially when you've been through it twice. It becomes like something is "chasing" you, and eventually you wont be able to outrun it.
Ironically, I needed your help in dealing with mom when things were really tense, and her behaviour was awful.....now I actually need your prayers for her please.......

Love, Caroline xo

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ibake&pray
03-10-2009, 11:10 AM
Caroline,

Peace dear one, peace. Take a deep breath and release it. Think calm thoughts. There is nothing that you can do except pray that all will go well. Remember that there is a reason for everything, and God never shuts that door that he doesn't open a window. So take a deep breath and just ask god to take care of your Mom. It's in his hands already, you know.

We will ask for healing and strength for you Mom. May she be blessed tenfold with the grace of god and the the gift of healing. May she be given the calm and and patience to accept what has been given to her and the peace that knows no bounds.

May you be given peace also dear. The peace to see this through, and the strength to have a successful delivery in the midst of this chaos and confusion. God grant you the patience to accept the wait that you have to endure while this plays out.

hand onto your towel little one...we won't let go....

carsam
03-10-2009, 08:31 PM
Thank you Jill for your message and your prayers.....

After I posted my message this morning, I got a call from a friend of mine that I work with. She asked me to come to her office for a few minutes, I knew something was wrong. I thought "oh god, I'm struggling myself right now". Anyways, as I suspected, her mom had a heart attack last Thursday.....her arteries are all clogged. Long story short, there is a 50/50 chance she would survive surgery, so she is on meds. My friend just buried her father a few months ago after a tough illness. I started crying along with her, and we shared a box of tissues for a good hour, trying to find the meaning of all this heartache, and how to find a balance between caring for your loved ones, and maintaining the balance for your young children so they are sheltered from all of it. Life is just so hard sometimes. Her sister who also just cared for her MIL for the last 10 years, just finished caring for her for 10 years, and she passed away last month. 4 weeks later, her own mother, is now coming to live with her. So she's had a break from caregiving for a month.
What is the purpose of all of this I wonder? Is this supposed to make us stronger? Does this happen to the people who have such good hearts that they can be strong enough to deal with it? I dont get it. I dont get the lessons to be learned here. I just see this as struggling. Life is for living....this just does not make sense to me.
I am having this little baby in 3 weeks.....and am trying desperately here to focus on that, although I feel I'm failing miserably. Every time I try to hold it all back, and shelter myself from it, something else comes along. It's exhausting......maybe I will Jill.....maybe I'll just say my prayers tonight and beg God to take this over, because I just dont feel I'm strong enough......I need help! :(

Thanks friend for listening....
Caroline xo

DGabriel10
03-10-2009, 10:15 PM
Can you say "Hormones"!!! With all that is going on in your body getting ready for this delivery the extra stress is just difficult to deal with. But you can do this. As for your Mom's situation, hope for the best and be prepared for the worst. I am sure they are being extra careful because of her history and you would rather they do further checks to be sure. Just expact the best. Worry is not going to change the outcome and you have better things to occupy your brain with at the moment like..... do you have enough crib sheets? I have been through the anticipation of breast cancer with my Mom and one of my best friends. Mom did have breast cancer but she's a survivor and it is long in the past. My friend, was diagnosed and went in for surgery. They sectioned the tumor and it came back NON cancer, though the biopsy came back cancer. They sectioned it and that was it. She has had no recurrence. Most cases turn out for the best, even if there is an initial diagnosis, and that is what you have to hang on to.

As for your grandmother, as long as she is eating anything and drinking she can last a long time. It's not going to help anybody to sit by the phone in anticipation. It will happen when it happens. Even if you are "waiting" you will not be totally prepared. So just let that take it's course.

Right now, focus on the new baby, yourself, and your little family. The rest will work out as it is meant to be :)

Love, deb

carsam
03-11-2009, 08:40 AM
Thanks Deb....
You are right....worry doesnt change a thing, I know that. I've been through so many "scares" with mom in this respect I should know that this could be another one, and that things can be fine. I just hate that it happens "now"...and cant help but just be fed up trying to keep all this stress at bay while getting ready for this baby. But I have no choice, I know that. My last day at work is next Friday, so I'll at least be off, and that will be one thing I dont have to deal with, thank God.
Sadly, and I know how you all know how much I love my grandma, but that is something I have accepted.....and like you all, will see as a blessing when the day comes, although difficult....I will be happy that she is no longer suffering. That I can manage, and have been (I think). It's all the other stuff that just keeps piling on.....I get tired some days of fighting it, you know? Yesterday was my day to just be angry, angry to be dealing with yet more potential illness and worry, to be tired of "dealing" with things. Today I am calmer and am back to doing what I do, and that is managing the best I can.......
Good lord, what would I do without you all? Putting up with my stresses, my hormones, all of it? I love you guys!!!

Love, Caroline xo

Drews Gram
03-11-2009, 12:49 PM
Dear Caroline,

Hormones!!! They can be a pain when they are surging through your body. But I sure miss them now. LOL I could use a good nights sleep and the energy I use to have when I had hormones. Mom always said I would miss them and of course Mom was right!!

I worry too Caroline about everything. It seems I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop and I stay prepared for any disaster. I mean really thats no way to live is it? When Ryan gets here you'll have that sweet baby to take care of and all of the other "stuff" will take care of its self. It always does, worry or not will not change things. I tell myself to just let it happen and stop worrying about things that I cannot change and that works for a few days.........then I worry. :) But I am getting better and you will too.

I'll remember you and your Mom in my prayers. Maybe this scare with the cancer is just that.......a scare.

Love, Chris

DGabriel10
03-11-2009, 11:09 PM
Horomones.... oh how I miss them too. I would love a good night's sleep. I found the energy, most of it, but the sleep eludes me. But they can send you into peaks and valleys like nothing else. So yep, blame it on the hormones Caroline. Give it 6 weeks after the birth and you should be back to just being a witch for a few days a month hehe

Being prepared and aware is not the same as worrying. I call Mom every day not knowing what I will find on the other end of the phone. I don't worry about it. Just deal with it as it comes my way. I know Dad is going to have another heart episode but being anxious about it is not going to make it different. I think that's the difference. I do prepare and I am aware but I left the anxiety some where back there a long time ago. That's what got me in medical crisis. It is what it is... you fix what you can and deal with the rest when you have to :)

Love, deb

Martha H
03-12-2009, 12:16 AM
Caroline ... take a deep breath and repeat, "everything is going to work out in the end." Again. "Everything is going to work out in the end!"

And if things don't seem to be working out, well, it just isn't the end yet. This is my brother's philosophy of life and works well for him, and I am learning not to be such a worrier.

Love,
Martha

carsam
03-12-2009, 07:50 PM
Thanks ladies.....

Well, the thing is, everything you are saying is very true. Worry accomplishes and changes nothing. I know that. I'm really learning that, and even yesterday, managed to pull myself out of it for a bit, started talking to Ryan, and told myself, whatever comes in the next weeks, I will deal with......and to focus on getting us through this birth. It feels good you know, to have this new "ability" I guess you could call it to not automatically go into "panic" mode and get all fussed about things. It's a slow learning process for me, but I can sure see the benefits in it. I really am learning alot from you all here, I hope you know that.
In saying that, I feel I'm really being tested, or pushed to my limits with it. On Tuesday, we found out that mom has to go back for more tests, which does concern me. I tried to put it out of my mind as you all suggested. Yesterday, she went for a stress test also on her heart. Now apparently she has a "fishy" area on her heart which can symbolize a blocked artery, so I had to take her last night to the drugstore to pick up aspirin, some sort of patch, and a spray for chest pains. Sheesh, I almost thought of "not" telling you guys about it for fear you'd think I am making it up. She has a follow up test in about 6 weeks, and if there's a blockage, she may need an angiogram. I really am trying to keep us this new way of thinking....but every time I do something else comes up? Is it wrong to want a break?

Today, I had lunch with two of my friends....one of them brought her baby, who is 8 months old. It was soooooooo what I needed today. Good friends, no talk of sickness or illness, and the sight of a beautiful innocent, smiley little boy gave me a glimpse into what's around the corner. Sadly, I know there may be some bittersweet times along with the good.....but I can only I guess take one day at a time.
Grandma seems to be getting worse. She now is getting to the point where she is not able to control her bladder at all..........I really feel we're nearing that time (just a feeling, I know I have no way of actually knowing that).....it is going to be really hard for Uncle. I feel for him, caring for her all this time, and if he will be with her when it happens, how heartbreaking for him. So that aunt that has showed up again.......has not called in days, calls my uncle to see how grandma is, when she knows the last time she was there, how she was. She went days without calling despite that.
Uncle is worried sick, between grandma's not eating, her incontinence, and also worried about my mom......and all of a sudden this Aunt calls yesterday and says she cant come over because she has to clean her house. Whatever happened, I guess there was some tension when she showed up this morning, I suppose he is supposed to be up for 3 nights in a row, trying to get grandma to eat, cleaning her up after "accidents", and still be Mr Sunshine towards Aunt when she shows up. She said "I knew you would get all angry again", and storme off saying "Its fine, I'll see my mother again when we get to heaven"......so there you go. My goodness these families.....how can she even say that? Her mother is still alive, and is 5 minutes away. So what if there are issues with her and Uncle, get over it, and do what you can to help your mother! This aunt by the way is actually my "godmother"....and my Uncle who looks after Grandma is my "godfather"....pretty ironic eh? Well, I know to let it go, they will both do and say what they are going to do, and nothing I can do about it......

You just never know what the day brings.......

Love, Caroline xo

Martha H
03-12-2009, 09:17 PM
we know you wouldn't make anything up!

Glad you saw a friend and baby -- that is very uplifting!

Love,

Martha

DGabriel10
03-12-2009, 09:41 PM
Nobody could make up all that :)

As for the heart issues. My Dad's first heart attack was in '77. We were told the chances of him being alive when we arrived home were slim. 45 days later he went home from the hospital. In the early mid 80's, when heart caths were new, he had one. We were told there was nothing they could do. A few years later he had another heart attack, supposed to be his last with no hope of heart surgery but we flew him to his heart center again.... and 45 days later he came home with 5 bypasses. Then there was another episode in the last 90's and a long night in the hospital with little hope.... until the bus ride to his heart center again. Before dark he had a stint in his heart and until the A-fib attack after Christmas this year he was fine. That's 32 years with a bad heart. He also has stints in his leg arteries for his PAD. Its amazing what they can do now. Mom had breast cancer with lympth node involvement. Changes that she would ever be clear of cancer again was not good.... but that was 20 years ago. And my good friend was told to plan his funeral during his third episode of leukemia. A clinical trial and 9 years later, he is still in remission. That's what you keep in mind when you get the word that something might be wrong..... something might be right because of it. Don't focus on the negative. It just might surprise you and turn out to be positive :)

As for sister and uncle and mom and grandma... there is nothing you can do to change who they are and what they do. Grandma is progressing in her disease and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. No amount of worry will fix them or the interpersonal relationships between then. As with my sister, you have to let it go. If you don't it will eat you alive because there is NOTHING you can do to change it.

You are not going to get any of this out of your mind totally. But you can put it in it's proper prespective. There is a difference between worry which creates anxiety and being aware of the situation. Change what you can and let go of the rest. Let go meaning, leave the worry and anxiety to those that have control over the problem. That's called ownership. If you didn't create it and you can't control it.... then you don't have ownership in it.

You are doing well with all that is crowding into your life. Just think of little Ryan and know that he doesn't need anxiety in his life. The more peace you can give him the better for you both :) Yep, you are doing well.....

Love, deb

dorri
03-13-2009, 01:14 PM
Carsam, I am so sorry to hear about your mom, but like the others said try not to worry. Try to keep the faith that your mom will be okay.
Now, I know it's easier said then done, but try to keep calm for your baby. You must try for baby's sake. I know it's hard to be happy when it seems like the world is crumbling around you, but focus on the joy within your tummy, talk to your baby, embrace your tummy, there is a blessing inside so there will be joy in due time. right, right..believe, just believe everything will work itself out.

Keep us posted, we're waiting expectingly along with you to hear the good news that your baby is on the way.
Here's multiple hugs for you from all of us ((((( hug, hug, hug, hug, hug, hug, hug )))) and here's some for baby too,(((hug, hug, hug, hug, hug )))).

disney world
03-13-2009, 09:43 PM
Caroline ... take a deep breath and repeat, "everything is going to work out in the end." Again. "Everything is going to work out in the end!"

And if things don't seem to be working out, well, it just isn't the end yet. This is my brother's philosophy of life and works well for him, and I am learning not to be such a worrier.

Love,
Martha

oh my goodness, Martha im disney world the one on the other board. still trying to get all of this. im learning how to post. this saying of your brothers great. I will use it now. thanks so much. so sorry for you Carolina. will keep everyone out there in my prayers.





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