It has now been over a week since I was able to take to my mom. From what Maura has told me, this has definitely been the worst for her. She was ordered by her oncologist not to go to work because her white blood cell count was so low. The possibility of being exposed to illness is far to great and her system has been so abused by the drugs to risk it. She has been working from her computer at home when she is able to stay awake. Sores cover her mouth and go down her throat so talking is pretty painful. The nausea that normally has gone away this long after chemo was administered still lingers. There is a lot of anxiety about the next treatments since she doesn't know how those will effect her. Accounts vary from being easier to tolerate to just as bad as the adriamycin and cytoxin treatments. March 4 continues to creep closer.
On a pretty sad note, cancer has claimed another here at KCOM. The DO class that started when I began the master's program has been plagued with illness and unfortunate events. We had one student that was diagnosed with a brain tumor, multiple children with rare birth defects/premature births/needing various surgeries, parents that have unexpectedly passed away or suffered heart attacks and strokes, spouses that been inflicted, and an uncommon amount of students that have had to have surgeries and testing. Last May, it seemed like the number of people on the prayer lists at school or the sign up sheets for dinner deliveries kept climbing exponentially. One of the names on the list was the wife of one of the students. She underwent surgery last year for a suspicious area on one of her ovaries. The frozen section that was done during the surgery looked as though it was a benign fibroid that had been showing up on the ultrasounds. Her husband came in to the recovery room with a balloon that he had crossed out the girl in "It's a Girl" and put fibroid. They were such a fun loving couple with a great sense of humor. When the final pathology reports came back, it turned out she had stage III cancer. She went through chemotherapy from the beginning of June until the end of October. Testing in November showed that she was in remission. It was very short lived with symptoms returning in December and new testing showed stage IV with metastasis to the liver and lungs. Doctors informed them that the traditional therapies would be ineffective and suggested alternative treatments and drug trials. Her battle ended this week. She was only 24 years old.
Maybe it is my experience with cancer or it could be as crazy as having watched Patch Adams at a young age but my interest in cancer treatment has always stayed alive. I chose to dedicate my master's to it and continue to go back to it when considering what area of medicine I will undertake. As ridiculous as it sounds, I think I made up my mind while watching Glee this week. I have always sort of known that pediatrics would be involved somehow and I have entertained general pediatrics, pediatric oncology or pediatric surgery. My hope now is to end up in a Children's Hospital as a general pediatrician, the ideal place being in the pediatric cancer ward. There is something amazingly exciting about knowing. It adds fuel to motivate me through the stress and scariness of med school. Less than six months till that adventure begins.
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