Jim Mack's Ice Cream, Hallam Township. June 2018
[from FB post: August 23, ,2012]
My very good news for the day. Back in May, my Mom was diagnosed with advanced stage Mantle Cell Lymphoma. It was really NOT looking good. However, after a lot of chemo (which did NOT make her ill) she is now in total remission! My hats off to the Hershey Medical Center and Dr. Epner. It really is almost a miracle!!! She'll have to have periodic treatments indefinitely... but that is really NOTHING compared to beating cancer at age 86!! I sure hope I inherited those genes!!!
Mom had not been feeling well but then again she was "old". Luckily, she met with the right combination of doctors who sent her to Oncology at the Hershey Medical Center. There, after many tests, she was told she had "mantle cell lymphoma" which is a kind of geriatric cancer. Basically, newer forms of cancer are starting to affect the older population because people historically just never lived long enough to get them.
At Mom's age, any kind of cancer treatment was going to be rough, but luckily Dr. Epner specialized in geriatric cancer treatment and prescribed 3 months of chemotherapy "lite" which, if successful, would give Mom at least five more years. I think Mom internally debated going through with it, but what convinced her was the impending marriage of my nephew. She was not going to miss out on his marriage, so she decided to give it a go.
I was living in Milford at the time, so I drove down to Mom and Dad's place in Hershey to ferry Mom to her treatments. Dad refused to go along - his side of the family was terrified of hospitals. The first visit was the worst because her body had a strong reaction to the treatment (all normal). Mom was getting pumped full of poison and it nearly looked like it would kill her. At one point she started to have a seizure and they eased off the meds (administered via IV). Watching your own mother being pumped full of chemicals and seizing before your eyes is not an image easily erased. The treatments after that were not as dramatic. In fact, she reclined in a hospital bed with a curtain for privacy and we chatted or watched TV. Except for that one incident, it really was "chemo-lite".
The Oncology Ward was a profoundly sad place. Most of the patients were getting their treatments alone and many of the nurses and doctors gave me approving comments for being there with Mom. The ward had different "events" as well - goofy things like kids do in high school such as dressing up like a favorite super hero. ANYTHING to take the very sad edge off what happened in those curtain-concealed beds. I was happy to be there for Mom, but those visits to the cancer ward made me want to appreciate everything in my life at that moment.
The treatments worked. Mom's numbers of red and white blood cells stabilized. They monitored them over time and she had complete remission. She didn't get an extra five years, she got nearly ten! In the end, Mom didn't pass due to cancer - just old age in general.
Unfortunately, the "chemo lite" had lingering effects and afterward Mom often complained about a host of physical ailments (some related to age, but some to the chemo I am sure). The doctors had told her the lingering effects might be permanent. I wondered sometimes if Mom doubted her choice. Most unfortunately, my father watched all that his wife had gone through and when he later was diagnosed with cancer at the Lebanon Valley VA Hospital, he elected for no treatment and he never told us. Dad slowly declined, but he was old so who knew? Finally the cancer spread through his body and his secret couldn't be hidden. He eventually had to go into hospice. Only then did we piece together what had happened. Mom outlived Dad and went into a steep mental decline after his death. Mom's chemo had saved her but indirectly had helped hasten Dad's death. After watching her battle with cancer, he didn't want any treatment. Dad had stomach cancer though - treatment might not have done much good anyway.
Why the photo? Mom's favorite ice cream in the world was "orange pineapple" from Jim Mack's. I thought that flavor was disgusting. Occasionally Mom and I would agree on black raspberry at least. When I am back on the home turf and drive by Mack's I think about Mom's favorite flavor. Funny, I don't know if Dad had one? He really was a man of few words and the result of that was quite sad. I am eating "caramel" in the photo above - that was a very unusual flavor back in the day.