The Call

Saturday morning, Dave called to tell me that I needed to come to the ER in Burnville immediately. I asked what was going on, and he told me that mom was in the ER and it was bad. I asked if it was her heart, and he said no. I asked if she was okay, and he said, "just get here." He also told me to call Ann and Craig right away. And so I did. I was a wreck. I know now that Dave was just trying to keep me from panicking, but unfortunately it had the opposite effect. I was quite convinced that I was going to get to the ER and have to say goodbye to mom.

And so, when we learned that mom had cancer, I have to say, it was actually somewhat of a relief. At least with cancer there is a fighting chance that its going to be okay.

When we left the ER, we had a discharge slip from the doctor. At the top of the page, it said diagnosis: peritoneal carcinomatosis. I didn't know what that was, but I knew it wasn't good. But again, she was alive, which quite frankly I hadn't been sure that was the case earlier in the day.