Postby Icesk8tr » Sun Apr 03, 2016 2:57 pm
Hello everyone. I know it's been a while since you have heard from IceSk8tr. I'm her daughter, Kerry. As hard as this is for me to write, my mother wanted you all here to know what happened to her. After five and a half years of battling her Stage IV Colon Cancer, my mom passed away peacefully at home, with her family, on February 9th. She put up a fierce fight, with eight surgeries and over a hundred rounds of chemo. I've never seen a fighter like her and even in the end, she was just worried about her family. So, allow me to explain the end of her journey.
I can hardly imagine what she felt throughout all these years as she received her treatments, but I know that she always made it look easy, when it was far from it. And this past year had been a truly difficult one for my mother. Suffering from intestinal blockages, she had to always make a choice of barely eating or dealing with intense pain from the wrong food causing another excruciatingly painful blockage. With her nutrition becoming a major issue, we had to turn to IV feeding (TPN). For those that don't know, this is a dangerous option, as it can lead to a blood infection. Yet, this was what we had to do to keep her in some sort of shape to get chemo. Throughout the year we would keep asking if she was still willing to fight, and always she said yes. Eventually, my mom was given a stomach peg, which acted as a reverse feeding tube. Instead of giving her food, it drained out food to prevent blockages. Whenever she felt nauseous, the tube could be opened up to alleviate the sensation.
Unfortunately, there still always seemed to be some problem with nutrition, hydration, or keeping the cancer in check. My dad, who had been by my mom's side every step of the way and for every chemo visit, was amazing in fighting for her and always trying to find the right solution. But, unfortunately it came time when there just wasn't anything that could be done and we had to put my mom on hospice.
The hospice nurses were very helpful and caring, though we were thankfully able to do much of her care ourselves. But throughout it, she was apologetic. This is something that to many may seem silly for a patient in her place to be, but was just like her. And while it didn't seem that there was much to be thankful for at the time, we were grateful for the chance to be able to talk to her and tell her the things we needed to let her know, before it was too late. Though her lucid moments were becoming fewer and far between, mom expressed she was happy with her life and proud of her family. Her life was one filled with a lot of adventure, but also a lot of simple, happy moments that she loved just as much. She loved being with her family and on the day she passed away, we were all there holding her. My mother was a shining example of someone who always put others first and she truly showed her family what unconditional love really meant. She also told us to just look for the butterflies in the spring to know her spirit lives on. She will truly be missed and will always be loved.
To everyone in the Colon Club, you were all a special part of helping my mom through her journey. Thank you so much for that.
Last edited by
Icesk8tr on Sun Apr 03, 2016 3:16 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Stage IV CC 2010