Tuesday, June 30, 2009

The Conversation

Shortly after I got back from speaking with Jennifer, Dr. Weber and Allan Chua came flying around the corner and straight into Mom's room. Dr. Weber told Mom that the cancer appeared to be in her brain and that she recommended a course of radiation with dexamethasone to basically buy Mom some time. We had opted not to do the lumbar puncture because even if the cancer is in Mom's spinal cord the treatment is far too harsh for Mom to tolerate. Dr. Weber discussed Mom's history with chemo and how tough it has been on her. She indicated that she needed to know what Mom wanted to do about whether or not to pursue treatment. Mom was crying on and off during this conversation. She told Dr. Weber to move forward with the radiation but she wanted to discuss the other options with us. Dr. Weber indicated that she had already responded to Dr. Romaguera via email but he had not made his return trip ... so I think she was a bit aggravated as she had a full clinic schedule but what the heck Mom needed some answers and she finally got them. Dr. Weber handled the conversation very well.

It took 11 days for a doctor to finally have the conversation with Mom regarding how much longer she had to live and what her options were ... though after 11 days there really were none as Mom died less than 24 hours later. While the end result would have been the same I truly wish that I had banged on more doors to get someone to tell Mom what was going on. Dad and I had told her in our own way ... but she needed to hear it from her doctor.