I'm not sure exactly why I am posting this, here, now. Maybe it is because I have found this community so welcoming and encouraging since I started participating again last summer and maybe because I just need to say this "anonymously" for right now because I can't even imagine how to deal with this in "real life".
I just found out today that my mother has pancreatic cancer. (She is 60.) They are still doing tests, but they think it is probably stage iv. It had metastasized to her gallbladder, which is how they found the cancer--she had been having severe back pain for weeks and when they saw an inflamed gallbladder, they removed it and found the cancer. The doctors are meeting on Tuesday to discuss "options" but I of course just googled this, and the prognosis is about the worst it could possibly be. I'm not even sure we have months.
I don't even understand this. Cancer does not run in my family at all, except that my mother's grandfather did die of pancreatic cancer. Her own 94-year-old father is still alive (and she is main caregiver outside of his assisted living facility, which raises a whole other set of issues for his care). It may sound odd to some, but my mother is absolutely my best friend. We talk every day and have since I went away to college over a decade ago. I had taken a job last fall to move closer to my family after having had to work far away from them for several years. And now, we have no time left. I'm sorry for being a bit of a jerk with this post: I just had to say these things. Anyone know of good message boards for families of cancer patients to exchange info?
