Another Bright Light is going To Go Out....

I somehow connected to this family a couple of years ago.  Their daughter Emily was inflicted with the same Lymphoma as my friend Trisha.  Unfortunately Emily has relapsed again. This family has been on fire.  They have had every buildings in Chicago lit up with Green and Purple, Emily has been at the Police Headquarters, heck she even had a call from Taylor Swift. Emily is squeezing every single moment of life dry.  As we all cry inside for this impending loss. 

 I hate to feel like I only have sad stories to share.  I don't want to be that person but some it is such a big part of being a Cancer Mom.  Knowing we have to be there even during the losses.   

Say an extra pray for peace and painless days.  Light a candle.  Hug your kid.  Forgive your irritating neighbor. Smile at the homeless guy.  (Still feel free to kick the smokers) 

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. It's hard to come up with words when I feel so empty inside.

Emily has been having some good days. She hates radiation, but she has to go for pain management. She has about another week left. Thank God the pain finally subsided. They put her on Methadone. At first, she was miserable. Not only was she in pain, she was very mean. I don't know if it was the pain, or the getting use to the pain meds. Our Emily came back last weekend. She is only functioning on one lung, her left one. She gets up to brush her teeth and after she has to sit down and have some oxygen. What 12 year old should get tired and winded brushing her teeth? I don't know how we are suppose to do this? Looking at her beautiful eyes, her beautiful smile, her little buck teeth. I just can't imagine a world without all those things. We all hurt so bad!!!! We are watching her deteriorate. How is this fair? When I say science has failed her, it really has. ALL our kids need and deserve much better than this. This makes me absolutely sick. Ed and I have been watching a PBS special that was on a few weeks back. It's hard for us to watch so we are getting through it slowly. The last part we watched they were speaking to the first Leukemia survivor. She was in treatment 50 years ago, they listed her medication and I wanted to scream! Emily was on all the same medications. In 50 years, NOTHING has changed. How is this ok? Things in pediatric research needs to change!!!!

Hospice has been coming, the nurse is very nice. Emily likes her. The other day we had to sit and go through the stages...... Emily is entering them. She is not really eating at all. I am told that I should not force her to eat, because her body doesn't know it's hungry, it's too busy trying to keep her breathing and her heart beating. How am I suppose to not make her eat? I feel like I am trapped in a nightmare and I can't wake up.

We are still trying to enjoy everyday for what it is. We will not cry in front of Emily, unless she is crying. Thank you for all your support, prayers, and love. Ed Beazley

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What a Difference a Moment Can Make

So, I have been dealing with some issues with some "kids" .  They are in the Millennium  generation or better known as the ME ME ME group that we have raised. This group was given way too many participation medals and pats on the back for mediocrity. Their tool box to deal with life in seriously deficient. 

 I remember my dad being upset when I mentioned there was not a dishwasher in my new apartment.  He was shocked that I would even notice.  I heard the lengthy "When  was a boy we lived in a Chicken Coop" recitation.  I then mentioned to him that we had never lived there and we always had a dishwasher, and electricity and plumbing.  He sort or looked at me funny and smiled.   He had not thought of that before. 

So now everyone has a cell phone, most of them "smart".  There are cars that are more than transportation.  They have a million I-things and flat screen TVs and fast computers and faster WiFi.  And we wonder why they are so flummoxed about hard work and responsibility. When and where would they have learned? We never gave them a chance. 

They want it all. They want it now. Everything is not enough.  And when that does not work, they are a bit miffed.  That is their bad press.  But there is a flip side to all of that.  They live in this moment.  The Dali Lama would be impressed with their ability to only focus on NOW.  Not a moment in the future or dwelling on the past, only the NOW.  Granted they need to worry a bit about kindness and giving back and things like that but they have the NOW thing covered. 

But you can get stuck in NOW. I am having a hard time seeing a future and making any plans.  I am stuck by Cancer World glue.  How dare I be so arrogant and make plans for something more than what we are doing today? How dare I believe there is a moving forward?  I have a hard time making plans very far out.  I know the bridge could go up as I travel over it. 

Cancer World takes lots from us. It also teaches lessons.  I am sort of slow on the patience and acceptance part of it.  Not happy when I don't receive answers of certainty.  I am sure they are not telling me everything and I have come to realize why.  Too much to know, too much to take in.  

Cancer World reshapes our reality and shrinks part of your world view.  You learn to focus on this issue, this moment, this point in time.  There is always a goal you are working toward but your life is peppered with the knowledge the bridge might go up at any moment. Any instant. Any nano particle.  

However, In physics, moment is a combination of a physical quantity and a distance.  

So I am going to work on thinking of NOW as a step.  A step in the right direction. 

I will work on really thinking about each moment being a step.

Whats all the Fuss about Childhood Cancer

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month.  Sort of like October is Breast Cancer.

I guess it is hard to believe there are people that are not "aware" of Childhood Cancer but given the small amount of funds (4%) go directly to Childhood Cancer research it is easy to understand.  It is such a small percentage of the cancer population the drug companies have not developed any new drugs for a long time.  That being said, I am still baffled at the lack of knowledge about what happens to kids during and after treatment.  

People often want to know if Mary-Elizabeth has been cured. I never know what to say about it. The medical people love to talk about 5 years, or 10 years of being cancer free.  We have small and young children. For example, if Robin Ulness makes it 5 years post cancer, she will be 7 or 8 years old.

 Mary-Elizabeth will be 24 years old.  Does not seem like much time.  She will maybe be just out of college.   

Just imagine if you only were able to allow yourself to look 5 years ahead.  No more, that would be all the time you have.  5 years.  Your child does not get to be any older then today plus 60 months.  The length of time it takes for most Americans to pay off a car.  1/6th of a house loan.  

I guess what I want is people to pay attention and maybe focus a bit on what is happening behind the smiles and the "sure we are great" that parents and Cancer Kids often have.   Because it is hard.  Even if you kid is "fine" and getting better each day.  Many are not.  Many are still trying to find away out of the grief and the pain of loss.  A family had to have the "talk" with younger brothers and sisters.  The your brother is dying talk. 

Don't take me wrong, I am so so grateful for what is available, for new and improved treatments, for less invasive treatments.  I understand how complicated this all is. But....

Just take a moment.  Look at the full moon and ask the universe to leave these kids alone.  Let them live out their lives. Let them fall in love. Learn to ride a bicycle.  Learn how to make a soccer goal. Learn how to drive a car. Learn how to get themselves out of jail without Mom and Dad finding out.

Okay, I'm done.  Maybe next year Seattle Children's Hospital will acknowledge the month since they do such good work in helping out kids. Maybe the White House will light up like they do for Breast Cancer. Maybe Century Link and the Ferris Wheel will do the same. Maybe the Empire State Building will light up for something more than the US Open.  Maybe we will do enough education so people will begin to understand the high cost of this disease.  

Mother Earth has lit up in Hawaii.  She is going gold. 

Why Mom's just don't get over the death of their cancer kids...

I am sure not everyone experiences motherhood the same way.  I know the instant I realized I was pregnant, I had a bond.  I was attached.  Of course she was sort of attached to me but I was attached.  It was like nothing I had ever experienced. My life changed in a way I didn't  understand.

I often hear about Mom's that had to "bond" with their child.  I wonder how that happens but I know even in those situations, the bond is there.  After we are clearly and permanently attached, then we have to become unattached so the kids can grow and mature and find their own lives. 

While the leaving the nest part is gradual, there are times the process is like lighting.  7th and 8th grade is one of the big pulling away times.  A time they are finding out who they are and how they fit with all of their friends.  It is a time many mom's mourn the loss of their babies but it is part of the process.  Little by little we let loose, they grow bolder, they develop out of family friendships.  It creates a place in their lives, creates a crease in the bond that allows a clean break to be made in a painless but significant way.

The entire process is mess up if at any time they enter Cancer World. Instead of a child gently pulling away, the Mother/Child bond intensifies exponentially.  All of a sudden not only are you caring for your child in an intense 24 hour a day, seven days a week way, your child is sick. You are on an adrenaline rush that lasts for several years.  No breaking away, no time to think, constant, intense caregiving.  It makes the bond so so much tighter.  Just imagine a strand of thread as the normal bond and a 10 inch cable made out of spider web as the bond created after Diagnosis. The cable eventually becomes the size of a 1000 year old Red Wood Tree. If they get better, the bond is always strong.

So here is the situation.  Child born, bond created. Child grows, child moves away in the natural course of things.  Child gets Cancer child moves back, no breaks not natural cut off, bond becomes super natural in order for the child to survive.  

But what happens if child dies?

Nothing is gradual. Nothing is normal. Nothing prepares anyone for the death.  It is like amputation without anesthesia.  And when it is done, the final most abhorant break in the bond occurs, Mom's are supposed to just go on. They are to be strong and brave and act like nothing happened.

Like many in Cancer World, we have seen the fall-out of the amputations.  I still hear from Guliany's mom in Turkey.  I hear from Shannon, and Kate and Kristi.  I see posts from Nyla's mom and Mario's moms.  I see the gut wrenching screams and pain and suffering of these Moms.  Jackie and Sheri and  Elizabeth or countless more.  Mom's that did all they could to keep their children with them.  Keep the bond going. Keep the connection.  

I don't perceive there is a difference in whether or not the child died suddenly or it was a long process.   They see other children with exactly the same flavor of cancer, same treatment and some kids do fine.  Some make it out alive.  They scream..... in pain about the unfairness of their child's death.  We need to let them scream and not make them feel like they are failures for not "moving on".

There is no way to figure it out.  Just don't ever assume that because the child died a year ago, two months ago or 40 years ago it is okay to ask how the mom or dad got over it.   The hole might have been walled off and there might be appearance of Normal but those parents could still use a hug. A hungry listening ear and understanding. 

So much potential. So much loss. So sad for everyone. 

News is trickling out, slowly..... Not much to say but fever is much better.

Lulu has had no changes and no movement...ventilator settings changing a lot blood pressure has been jumping all day but fever has been at 99....come on lulu keep fighting..



More waiting. 

This must be a very noisy place.