11 Weeks and Counting

Today marks 11 weeks since Dr. Stanfield told us that Mom has glioblastoma multiforme.
Today marks 11 weeks since we saw pictures of Mom's brain through a window and knew it looked bad and then Dr. Stanfield interpreted those pictures for us. That interpretation was a tennis ball size tumor in the middle of her brain and a grape size tumor near the top of her brain.
Today marks 11 weeks since we were told that Mom has one of the worst kinds of brain cancer there is.
Today marks 11 weeks since Dr. Stanfield told us that the median survival rate of this cancer is 11 weeks without treatment.
Today marks 11 weeks since I felt stabbed in the heart.

11 weeks is 2 days after my brother's 40th birthday.
I think today is a great day to celebrate! Mom is having many treatments so she is fighting with all she has. But we celebrated for the last two days my brother turning the big 4-0! And today we celebrated by attending a former Girl Scout's wedding in Weatherford, Texas. Congratulations go to Nikki and Tim!

A few things to note here: I am the one that counts today as 11 weeks. Mom and Dad count yesterday. In the emergency room on Friday night, December 9 the doctor told us Mom had a mass. She says that felt like someone punched her in the gut. It made stroke sound really good! So Mom and Dad counted 11 weeks to yesterday. I think I count 11 weeks to today because it was Saturday, December 10 around noon that Dr. Stanfield actually gave us those horrific numbers that spun around in my head for weeks. They still rear their ugly heads some.

Dr. Stanfield told us the median survival rate without treatment is 11 weeks and the median survival rate with treatment is 22 weeks. Dear God! What do we do with that!! So 11 weeks is right near my brother's birthday and 22 weeks is very close to my birthday. Mom said she would get to see the blossoms on the trees but not the fruit. What a great picture!

As we all know my mother is fighting hard! She has chosen aggressive treatments including two brain surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy. Before we went to Baylor, we thought we were celebrating our last Christmas together. That is truly what we were preparing for!

For the last couple of months friends have asked me about Mom's prognosis. I answered honestly that I didn't know. 11 weeks and 22 weeks ran through my head so much that I quit listening to the numbers. They hurt too much! All I really knew was that we walked into Dr. Fink's office with a prognosis of weeks and we walked out after our consultation with Dr. Nestor with a prognosis of months and years. I didn't really know the numbers.

What I am understanding now is that most people survive about 2 years with this form of brain cancer. As much as I don't like that, I do like it a whole lot better than 22 weeks! Mom and Dad and I talked about how we would rather have her here for a lot longer but 2 years is much better than we were originally told. We also know that we serve an awesome God! Mom will live on this Earth as long as His plans for her remain. And those plans are for good and not for harm!