Amanda Wells75 said:So, how long did your Mom live after the fluid started building up?
I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that she won't be here much longer. I keep holding out for a miracle. I guess there's some truth to that old saying about hope being the last thing to die. My Mom still feels so young—way too young to be leaving us this December (right around Christmas Eve). She had just turned 57, and I'm only 31. There was so much more I wanted to learn from her—how to make authentic dumplings, sewing, crochet... so many things left unsaid. She had such big plans, too; she wanted to teach her grandkids the old traditions, take them to folk festivals, look after them, play with them, and just enjoy being a grandma... 🙂
Hey, Amanda...
I can tell you what it was like with my Mom. Once the fluid started accumulating, she passed away about 10 days later. The paramedics took her in once because she was struggling to breathe from the buildup, but they just sent her back home without doing a puncture. I think they realized on their own that it wouldn't change anything since she was already in the terminal stage.
She originally had primary breast cancer (which they successfully operated on) that metastasized to the eye muscle (which they could never fully remove because of how tricky the location was). Then, spots appeared on her ovaries and uterus (both were removed), and finally, when it hit her bones, everything just went downhill fast. During her last two months, she started having seizures, lost her sight (the brain MRI was clear, but I assume that spot near the eye was causing the trouble), dealt with pain, immobility, hearing loss, and in those final 2 or 3 days, she couldn't speak at all.
It was four years from the initial diagnosis to her passing. This coming May will mark one year since we lost her (I was 24 then, and Mom was 49).
I get it. Every time I read stories like yours, it all comes rushing back. Hang in there—I honestly don't know what else to say. Just stay close to her...