Saturday, August 12, 2023

I posted this 10 years ago today.






I posted this 10 years ago today. God gave my sister 35 more years and counting. 

August 12, 2013
So I get a text earlier today from one of my sisters reminding me of the anniversary. I hate cancer.
Twenty- five years ago today, one of my younger sisters was taken into surgery after being diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma, a childhood cancer aka long bone cancer. She wasn't a child. She was a married woman in her early 20's with a small child of her own. The tumor had appeared on the top of the femur, in her hip area and had started to grow rapidly causing severe pain. The intense pain is the only reason they found the tumor. We were told they would have to remove her leg and hip along with the tumor to rid her of the cancer.
When the doctors spoke to us after the surgery, they said they took an enormous amount of tissue surrounding the tumor, but opted not to remove her leg or hip. In the following weeks and months, she went through chemotherapy and radiation and lost weight rapidly. She seemed to lose half her body weight and she did lose all of her hair. She had to have regular blood transfusions. As I recall, she had to be
quarantined in ICU a few times because her white cell count was low, making her ability to fight infection none existent.
About halfway through her therapy, they found pre-cancerous nodules in her lungs. The news was devastating. She had been through so much and now to be told she had the nodules in her lungs, and told in such a way we had no choice but to believe they would most likely turn cancerous given her weakened state. But they continued treatment. She was given so much chemotherapy drugs, they would give her
medication to make her sleep through the effects. I remember days Mom and I had to carry her the few steps to the car. Sometimes she couldn't remember waking up to puke the poison from her body and would be in a drugged, restless sleep for 24 hours after a session. Sometimes longer.
When we learned it was cancer I was at a loss for words. I agonized over what to say to her on my first visit after we learned of the cancer. I began to pray intently asking for mercy for her and guidance for myself. When I entered that hospital still not knowing what I would say to her, I made a detour to the gift shop in the hospital lobby. I don't know that I made the conscious choice of the gift I bought her. I truly believe I had help with that decision. I walked into her room with a heavy heart and handed her the gift I had bought, only telling her I loved her. I'm not really sure if any other words were spoken during that visit.
The text was from the sister who had surgery 25 years ago today! The gift, a Bible. If you see a short, forty something woman in Indianapolis with no butt cheek on one side, it might be my sister! Please wish her Happy Anniversary!

No comments:

Post a Comment