Abdomenal Tumors

Monday September 21, 1992

I had alot of pain in bed last night, probably from eating too much too late. It seemed I could find no comfortable position to lay. All the pain is in the lower abdomen where the tumors are. The cancer on my abdomen wall gives me a full or uncomfortable feeling.

I drive Maria to the doctor in Panorama City. We have a nice visit.

At home I do the laundry and feel pretty good today.

We go square dancing at 7:30. I feel a bit tired and edgy so come home early at 9 p.m. We watch TV.

Frank went to Guardian today and bought a frame for mother's toilet to help her get up and down. Also a grab bar for her shower. Gene will go next weekend to install them.

I admire a man who is a good handyman, like my Uncle Gene, like Frank, and like my husband Ric. I am not handy at all. When I talked to my Aunt Cathy this weekend she told me how Uncle Gene always has a project around the house that he's working on. That keeps him active, both physically and mentally, and keeps him healthy.

It's no wonder Mom has difficulty getting comfortable at night with all those tumors on her abdomenal wall. One of the classic signs of ovarian cancer is feeling full and bloated.

Feeling Better Today

Friday September 18, 1992

Feeling better today. We take a walk and settle into a quiet day. I do some sewing and some typing, some light housework and some reading. Frank keeps busy in the garage and yard as usual.

About 7:30 we go visit Gary and Maria. We stay late (11 pm). It's a good visit. We watch some TV.

I admire Frank for keeping busy with projects around the house. I talked to my Aunt Cathy a couple of days ago, and she told me that Uncle Gene (Mom's brother) stays active by always having a project going in the yard or the house. It keeps both his mind and body healthy. He just turned 84 years old this month.

I Now Have a Cold

Thursday March 26, 1992

I slept well last night thanks to a codeine/Tylenol tablet. Upon waking I believe my body aches have subsided but I still have chest pain and cough. I'm weak and when I take my shower I get so hot and sweaty it takes 45 minutes to cool down enough to put make-up on. The sweat just streams from my hair and face.

At 2:00 I see a doctor in Simi clinic. She orders a chest X-ray, blood test and 2 EKGs one hour apart. She says I'm OK, but my blood (white cells) count is down to 2.5 when 5-10 is normal. She gives me codeine cough medicine and antibiotics as preventative. About 7 p.m. my nose starts to run like a faucet. I now have a cold! I pray for a healing so I can get ready for our trip on Tuesday.

Uncle Ricky isn't doing very well. I pray for his recovery if that be God's will.

Oh no, I imagine it's going to be hard for her body to fight off a cold when her white cell count is so low. I did a little research on the subject, and it turns out that chemotherapy is one of the causes of low white cell count, as is cancer, and as are viral infections. She's dealing with all of these at once. I hope Mom will just take a rest from her busy life.

Sweating for 45 minutes after a shower doesn't sounds normal. After all that sweating she probably wanted to take another shower. It doesn't appear to be a symptom of either cancer or chemotherapy, but could have been a menopausal symptom caused by her hysterectomy.

Bees and Bunnies

Gene raised bees. He would dress me up in his beekeepers suit and send me in to collect the honey. He made me feel it was an honor that he would allow me to collect his honey. Gene took care of the rabbits. I loved the baby bunnies and it seemed we were always having them. Holding a baby bunny is one of the softest warmest experiences of my young life. I didn't like it when they killed the rabbits and took their skins off. I knew we needed the meat to eat and the money we got when they sold the furs, but I will never forget the squeal of a rabbit being killed.

How traumatic for a young girl to see her warm fuzzy bunnies murdered and skinned. I cannot even imagine witnessing this as an adult. A child of the depression had to grow up in a hurry. Was brother Gene, pictured above with his mother Helen in 1930, really trying to honor his little sister by letting her collect the honey or just avoid getting stung himself?

Gene

My brother Gene was an important part of my life. He's six years older than me, and I always looked up to him. In my eyes he would do no wrong. He kept me in line with teasing and often tormenting me, but I didn't mind. He was several steps above me socially and there were some painful reminders of that at times. He had his own grandmother and aunts and uncles and we did not share the same father. He was a one and only in that family and they spoiled him terribly whenever he went to visit them. He had nice clothes, a fancy bike and always had money. He used to tease me a lot about the skirts Mother made for me from feed sacks. In those days the animal feed sacks were printed and colorful and after the chickens, rabbits, ducks and goats had finished the feed, mother would make me a new skirt.

Mom remained close to her brother Gene throughout her life. He is still going strong at the age of 81. Like mom he has alway loved adventure. He and my Aunt Cathy, pictured above in 1950, belonged to a snow skiing club long before skiing was popular. I remember visiting them at the ski lodge when I was a girl and being amazed that it took 20 minutes to lace up the boots and then snap onto long wooden skis before heading to the rope tow. They continue to travel all over the world as they have for most of their 50+ years together. My uncle Gene still skis and has even tried snowboarding in recent years. He also went bungee jumping in New Zealand a few years ago.

How humiliating for mom have to wear a feed sack to school. That must have really hurt her self-esteem. Imagine that today when teenage girls insist on designer labels.