Road Work Ahead, Have a Nice Day!

As I drove my mom home from her first meeting with the oncologist doctors. We saw an electric sign that blinked "Road Work Ahead, Have a Nice Day! and Please Drive Safely." It may seem strange but those words seemed put there expressly for us. Those three phrases some how seemed to fit so well with what the future holds for us. Mom and I both went into these two doctor appointments with great trepidation. We knew that we would find out the results of Mom's CT scan and bone scan. We visited with the radiation doctor first. He was very kind and personable. He told us that the tests were good - no signs of cancer anywhere else in her body - I wanted to shout for joy! I thought - Wow! we have won the game. I should have known not to celebrate to early. The next visit was with the chemo doctor. He took time to explain to us about the kind of cancer Mom has and how although it isn't showing up anywhere else in her body that it almost surely will within a short amount of time especially if left untreated. Even with the most invasive chemo treatment it will most likely return at some point. The simple fact that it was in 14 lymph nodes on her left side assures that. He showed us some computer models that showed her theoretical chances were she to choose different courses of chemo as apposed to nothing at all. None of the models give her a real good chance. Frankly it was really sad and depressing. Mom was really hoping to avoid having to do chemo at all. She is terrified of being so ill that she has to be in a care center. The doctor made it sound as if the chemo she would be doing wouldn't completely incapacitate her. She would loose her hair and be nauseated etc. She is also concerned about how chemo would affect her diabetes and blood pressure. We left the visit without her making a final decision on what course of action to take. I wish more than anything that I could take it all away but of course that is impossible. Needless to say I cried the whole way home. But back to the road signs I mentioned at the beginning of this rather depressing rant. As we were coming up Orem hill we saw that sign blinking at us and I commented that that is just what we have to do. -- We have to realize that there will be "road work" ahead so we should try to "drive safely" through the challenges that we are facing and that through it all we should try each day to "have a nice day!". Mom and I kinda laughed when I said that. It all comes down to how you look at things. I am simply praying that I can have a positive and eternal perspective on these trying times and that Mom can have a peaceful answer to what course of action she should take.