How time passes us by so quickly when we are not looking.  It has been three years since I was on here and what a three years it has been.  The last time I wrote, I had just lost my dear Dad.  Since then life, has gotten so much more busy, I didn't think that was possible, but it was.  In October of 2013, my mom was diagnosed with melanoma.  The did surgery and removed what they thought was everything and claimed she was clear of cancer.  They had taken some lymph nodes and felt they had cut everything out.  So true is the saying that hind site is 20/20.  The next October (2014), I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  So the journey started of going through chemo, then surgery and then another round of chemo myself.  Lost my hair, which was hard for me, but did come out of it a year later, cancer free.  However, God was not done with our small family yet.  The next October (2015), we found out that my mom had her cancer return metastasized all throughout her body (liver, lungs, bladder and brain).  All of this from the 1/4 inch mole they had removed in 2013.  Because we had last my Dad just two years earlier, she was ready to go and meet my Dad.  She didn't want to fight it and the doctors indicated that her quality of life would not be that great fighting it anyway.  So she made the decision not to treat it.  My hubby and I attempted to care for her at home and it just became too difficult for us.  We didn't have the equipment, so I made the decision to move her into the Hospice home Dad had been treated at.  

I can't say enough about making sure if you go through something like this, make sure you have a patient advocate if you can't take charge with the doctors on your own.  They NEVER checked my mother again until they checked her in October 2015 after having blood in her urine for a period of time and were trying to find the cause.  They should have checked her again shortly after she had her mole removed on a consistent basis for any return of the cancer.  They may have been able to save her from ending up dying in March 2016 from the cancer having ravaged her body.  Of course, now that I have gone through this terrible disease myself now, I will not allow them to do that to another family member of mine.  When I finished my chemo treatment in January of this year, I asked my doctor what the plan was now going forward.  She indicated that she would have me come in a couple of times a year and check me over.  I said you're not going to do a scan of some sort on a regular basis to check for the cancer returning?  She said "no, we don't normally do that".  I said well I don't care if you normally do it or not, you will be doing it for me or I will find another doctor who will.  I just cared for my mother dying from cancer because nobody checked her afterwards to see if it returned.  The doctor finally agreed and will be doing an annual scan.

I have now been through three surgeries.  I am just now recovering from the last one 2 weeks ago.  Needless, to say I am thankful to God that I am now cancer free, but I can tell you have I have had enough of doctors to last me for awhile. And enough going on in life the last 3 years to last me a while.

Now after moving 4 properties into one, which we currently are living in my mom and dad's house, I am ready for life to slow down a little bit and just be a routine.  No time for cross stitch in the last three years unfortunately.