A Pilgrim’s Digression

The bad news about my grandma is that she has inoperable pancreatic cancer, and it has spread into her lymph nodes. There does not seem any hope of a recovery, so we are just hoping that the time she has left is as pain free as possible. So far, she hasn’t experienced any pain or illness at all, which is part of the reason why the cancer was never diagnosed before now. Anyway, we are travelling up to West Virginia this afternoon, but probably will not be able to see her until tomorrow.

I called my Dad just a few minutes ago, and he said the only “new” news is that she is awake and in good spirits. She will probably be in the hospital the rest of this week before going home Friday, so we will go over to see her tomorrow. Dad said she seems the same as always, so we can definitely take Brendan to see her without fear of frightening him.

I asked how she was taking the news, and Dad said she was taking it better than anyone else. She seemed very upbeat, he said.

Grandma has always been the kind of person who has self-diagnosed her various aches and pains as the first symptoms of every possible fatal illness, so I have to wonder if a lifetime of anticipating death has perhaps paid off in a happy complacency about what is happening to her.

I can’t really write as much as I want to, because we have to be getting on the road and I have already spent the better part of the morning blogging about my own medical experience. We will be staying in West Virginia through Friday, returning late Friday night. I won’t have internet access during this time, but will update my readers upon my return.