What a day!

Well, we are in Mexico now. I meant to post more earlier, but things have been sort of crazy. Well, they have been really crazy. We had a good flight yesterday and my Mom was feeling fine. She was a little tired, but did really well. As soon as we came in, we had to meet with Dr. Quintana, my Mom's doctor. He wanted to look at the MRI's and see what it said. So, he took them from us and said he would catch up with us later to discuss them. About an hour later, he pulled me aside and explained to me what he saw. He said that my Mom's tumor was unfortunately growing. There also was lots of swelling, he said. This devastated me, hearing this. He saw that I was upset, and told me to not tell my sister or Mom. He didn't want to make them upset yet. He had planned on meeting with us that night to explain to them. Well, everyone could tell that I had been crying so I had to tell what I heard. Mandy had a really tough time with it, but my Mom did okay. She was sad, but reassured me that she would be healed.

Then early this morning, around 2:00, my Mom started to get a bad headache. We woke up the doctor and he gave us a pill, that he said possibly would work. After an hour, my Mom was still in pain and it just kept getting more and more intense. I talked to the nurse and she didn't speak much English, so she ended up giving my Mom a nausea pill. I had mentioned that I felt very sick to my stomach, so I think she thought it was my Mom. Anyway, around 4:00, we woke up Dr. Quintana again and asked him to come see my Mom. She was tossing around and moaning pretty loud. I felt so bad for her. I prayed so much, but just felt lost. He ended up coming in and could tell that my Mom was barely conscience. She didn't know where she was, or who anyone was. It was hard for her to open her eyes also. So, he started an IV for her with medicine to bring down the swelling. He also put her steroids up to 24 milligrams daily. This helped for a short period of time and then we think it is possible she had a very minor seizure. She was sitting down and her eyes rolled back and just slumped over against me. It seems like when these things happen, it is always with me and there is nothing I can do. I didn't want to scream for help and scare all the patients, so I prayed and prayed and prayed. After about 5 minutes, which felt like forever, my Mom came out of it and stood up on her own, to go back to bed. I was so happy. I ran to get the doctor, and they were all very scared. They didn't imagine she would get so bad. I mean, she was fine the day before. So, we had two doctors and one nurse in with her. At this point, my Mom wasn't responding. She wouldn't open her eyes, and they said that there was very severe swelling. Just so much. She got to the point she couldn't swollow either. It was so scary. They ended up starting a new IV, and after about an hour, my Mom was much better. She could talk some, walk, and she knew who we all were. Praise God! She also was able to drink something. I think she had 3 chocolate protein shakes! :)

One very odd, but neat thing did happen. My Mom had just started felling better, and a lady knocked on our door. She came in and said she had been wanting to introduce herself to my Mom. She was at the hospital because of brain tumors. She actually is cancer free. She had lung cancer, and it turned into brain cancer. I think they gave her 6 months to live. She use a gamma knife to cut most of the tumors out, but then came down to the hospital to get rid of the rest. She was down for 3 weeks, and in that short amount of time, it got rid of all the lung cancer. She said she believed that God led her to come and talk with my Mom. She said she just wanted to touch her and pray for her. And as she layed hands on her, she looked at her, and said, "You are going to be alright, I just know you will be." OH, I needed that so much. It was like God just opened a door for me and showed me a glipse of the light. Even when we are walking through these dark and tough times, we have to know that it's not too far from the light. We have to have hope. So, I still do truly believe that God will heal my Mom.

Later on, the doctor told us that the only thing left for my Mom is high dosage of chemo-therapy and radition. We have been so against this, but now we are going to try. Dr. Quintana really cares about my Mom, and he thinks it is best. We talked as a family about it, and think we should. So, today we met with the radiologist and he drew on my Mom's face. That way the technicians will know where to direct the radiation. I think my Mom might start that tomorrow. As far as chemo goes, she will most likely start Monday. She will get 1 to 2 doses a week, but then must wait 3 weeks to do another round, so we will be in Mexico for quite a long time. As far as I know. I am still praying for my Mom's healing. I need to have persistance in my prayers. :)

Pray for me also, that I will have the strength to be strong for my Mom and for my sister. She's having a hard time and I try to explain to her not to do that. It's really hard on my Mom to see us like that. We can't give up.

I'll write more when I know more!

Love, Danielle