Updating

Okay - I can't even use the excuse that January has been busy - I just have really nothing exciting to blog about.  But I do want to blog today about my grandma

(she is the one in the middle of this group - standing to my right)

My grandma Bonnie has been a rock in our family for 88 years.  She is the person we all strive to be like.  There is no one like her in the world - hands down.

Around Thanksgiving, she started having pain in her back.  Not sure what she did - because the woman never complains - she went in to the doctor.  Found out that she broke a vertebrae in her back.  And it wasn't her first break.  She had evidence of old small breaks that had happened over the years that just healed on her own.

To say she is stoic would be an understatement.

For almost two months, she has been in a lot of pain.  Just not herself.  She didn't feel like doing much, and really was limited due to pain in her back.  Even with a brace and pain medication, she just couldn't get herself feeling better.  Plus she was going crazy with boredom.

About 2 weeks ago, my parents and my cousin who is a nurse were visiting her and just felt she didn't look well.  When I talked to her on the phone - she didn't sound right.  She sounded like she couldn't catch her breath and sounded weak.  My mom said her color wasn't good, and she wanted to nap during the day, which she never did.

So - they encouraged her to go to the doctor to get checked out.  He ran blood tests and her tests were out of wack.  So he admitted her to the hospital to try and figure out what was going on with her.

HEre we are almost two weeks later, and our matriarch is still in the hospital.  We have found out that she has a cancer called multiple myeloma.  We were completely shocked.  Like I said - never sick.  She also had a lot of fluid in her lungs -which explained why she was short of breath.  She had that drained, she had a port placed to give her chemo, and has gotten a lot of fluid, blood, treatment.  She is feeling and sounded more like herself and she is ready to get out of there.

We do not know what the future will hold for her.  The cancer is in an advanced stage, but treatable.  It is not a curable cancer.  She will get chemo twice a week for a long.....long...time.

Please say a prayer for her and for my grandfather.  He is a mess about this whole thing.  They are going to get a lot of support when they go home, but it might be a very long time before she is back to being like her old self.  And in all honesty - that may never happen.

This is her new reality.  But she is a fighter.  And she still has work to do - like teach me to cook.  So we expect her to be around for a very long time.