It's been a while. My apologies. I admit that I've been spinning in other lands and well, ye ole blog has gotten ignored. However, I come to you with a very important PSA--
Please go for your annual exams.
Oh, I'm good and up to date. My aunt, however, was not. She had not chosen to go for an annual exam since she was cleared after she had my cousin 34 years ago. Just this morning, after having been taken off life support and having been moved to hospice care, she breathed her last breath.
She died.
What did she die from? Stage 3 Uterine cancer. She could have had an exam and it would have shown.
She could have gone to the doctor when she noticed symptoms, but she chose to ignore them.
When you go through menopause, you shouldn't ever have bleeding occur again. If you do, something is wrong. She ignored it despite having that happen. I'm thankful that my mom didn't ignore that when it happened to her. She had a hysterectomy, no ill effects and she is well. She is well because she listened to her body.
She was about my build-- 5'1" and about 140ish. She lost 80 pounds. She was losing her hair. She couldn't stand up straight. She was in incredible pain. She took so much Advil that she ulcerated and consequently that perforated her stomach and colon. The tumor that they removed was the size of a football. It was so large and pressing so hard on her spine that she had an incredible bruise across her back.
She went into the hospital almost against her will on April 19. She masked symptoms. She was in SICU the entire time. She had 3 major procedures in about 24 hours time and several procedures after that.
She had gone jaundiced. That was getting worse.
I asked the nurse last week, "Is this as good as it gets?" She didn't know. We knew that she hadn't chosen life for herself. We don't quite know why. At 59, she had so very much to live for.
She has left behind two children, ages 34 and 39. She has left behind two grandchildren and two step grandchildren.
Her children are now orphans. Their dad died as a result of a car accident when Heather was 11 and Bill was 6.
What devastating loss for them. While she was not particularly close with our family any longer, we never shunned her from the family. We never ignored her if she was around. She remarried and chose to basically distance herself from the family.
I still sent her a Christmas card every year. I didn't want her to think that we forgot about her.
So please, I know that it is not the most pleasant exam of our year. Please. Go forth and have your exams. Please don't ignore symptoms. Please take care of you.
