Tag: cancer

A confession to a friend

Posted on by momilhem

Dear Hannah,

Where does one start to talk to you? I guess simply saying happy birthday might be the easiest place. Last week Iowa read about you and it was refreshing to see how they were saying we miss you.

I remember when I first met you; I kicked your family out of the room so you and I could talk alone. Something tells me you liked that, and you felt I wanted you to tell me what you wanted from me as your physician. I acknowledged your adulthood and maturity. You had grown too fast while facing your cancer. That day we formed our bond of trust. I am honored to know that your family shared with me that you valued what I had to say. I felt very deeply about you and I was hurt badly the day you left us.

I read Molly’s blog with a deep admiration of her courage and how she wanted to grow.   I mustered up the courage to talk to you in a letter sharing my thoughts that have needed to come out. It is my way of closure. You stretched my heart to a place it had never been, your search for hope in me made me realize how we believed in each other. Knowledge of things sometimes makes it harder to watch what actually happens. I confess that I struggled to tell you in part due to how I felt. Your amazing spirit, the love of your family gave me the strength to do so.

I remember the love around you. The fear, the kindness and the respect. I remember your quiet demeanor.  On the day I knew it would happen, I stood silently beside your bed. I fought back my tears as I watched your shallow breaths. I sent you a million prayers in my heart, my eyes talked to you as I stood there in my own language and I said goodbye. Something I have done to so many who have allowed me the privilege of being a part of it.  

Perhaps I am realizing now that I can talk to you every day. Through those who love you and care.  

Dear Hannah with love from Mo.

 

My sister, my friend

Posted on by momilhem

Molly McDowell was only 21 years old when her sister died from osteosarcoma. The loss was deep and personal to Molly so she has dedicated her life to raise awareness of the disease and to get involved with research. She has applied for medical school and hopes to be a pediatric oncologist specializing in sarcoma. Today, Molly takes over my blog and tells her story of her beloved sister, Hannah.

“Metastasized…multiple lung and brain lesions…clinical trials…continue living life to the fullest”. I let the words sink in and repeated them in my head as I sat in disbelief in Mo’s clinic. How could this happen to someone so young with so many dreams and so much potential? My younger sister, Hannah, had battled osteosarcoma since the age of 10 and now it was going to take her from me. Hannah was my everything. She is my greatest inspiration and will forever be my number one hero. Losing a sister of age 19 is by far the toughest thing that a 21-year-old college student can go through.

During my entire college career I never knew what “normal” was. Normal to me was a constant worried, scared feeling. But now when I look back on it, I liked that normal. That normal meant that my sister was still here; that sarcoma had not taken her away from her family that loved her more than words could ever describe.

Sarcoma took so much from Hannah, but it never changed who she truly was. She was someone that everyone fell in love with the minute they met her. There was just something about her that could never be explained. She had a fight and drive in her that rubbed off on people. For a lack of better terms, she was bullheaded. That’s what kept her with us for as long as she was. She wanted to show sarcoma who was boss, and I am sure several would agree with me when I say that she sure did. She did not let it define her. She continued living life, gave so much of herself to others, and never let anything slow her down.

Hannah 1

She refused to take no for an answer. In her mind there was always a way. I believe that is the mindset that every cancer patient should have; there is always a way. Whether you have 3 days, 3 months, or 3 years, there is always a way to make the most of your life. Show the cancer that is trying to take over your body that it cannot control your life; it cannot change who you truly are deep inside. It wants you to break down. It wants to ruin your spunk, and your drive to live. Why would you ever want to give cancer what it wants? That was Hannah’s way of looking at it. She wanted to prove to cancer that it would never control her, and she definitely did.

Hannah 2

Hannah is the reason that I am who I am today. Every struggle, every scare and battle she fought, shaped me into an amazing individual with a huge dream. I have a tremendous desire to become a sarcoma specialist someday. I have a fight and drive in me that my sister had while fighting a disease that I someday hope to destroy. Without her I do not know where I would be in life. She introduced me to my amazing, loving husband who was there for Hannah through everything. Him and I were able to celebrate our wedding in her hospital room. We will be celebrating our one-year anniversary on February 5th. It is hard to believe that it has almost been a year. It has been a long, tough year, and I wish my sister could be here with us to celebrate. But I know no matter what that she will be celebrating for us in her own way. It was her goal to get us together and to see us be married. I thank God everyday that she was able to be there. She will forever and always be my sister, my friend.

Molly McDowell

Hannah 3

Fragile

Posted on by momilhem

It was a slow day in clinic. Time was plentiful. Patients trickled in to be seen. I watched my practice in slow motion. I helped a patient make a better decision about their care. I contemplated on how fragile our health really is; on how symptoms dominate our thoughts and how having good health truly makes a difference to how we live our life. 

Cancer can be very silent in our bodies with vague unnoticed symptoms. It eats at our vitality and makes us weaker though we may not feel it until it is too late. It attacks us physically, emotionally and socially. It is difficult to convince a patient who feels well to accept a therapy that itself would make them feel worse. It’s a very delicate state to explain to a patient their vulnerability and how this disease could end their lives if they do not accept the therapy at hand. I find it frightening at the number of choices there are to navigate and how little time we have to explain rationally to our patients the best options they have.

What happens when the therapy we have to offer really does not have an impact on their lives or wellbeing? Should it be offered? How do you explain with all the progress that is hyped in the media that science for this one patient lags in finding a treatment that helps them get through their ordeal?

Today I felt I had that time, because things happened slowly. It was a refreshing look at care where as things moved slowly it felt like I could see more detail and focus more on my patient. It was like watching the replay of a touchdown.  I have always felt that healing is a process that needs time on its side.

Each patient as an individual needs to be handled with the utmost care, like they were a vase that could easily break. Perhaps that is how it should always be.

 Mo

Eclipse

Posted on by momilhem

It is hidden, and it is beautiful. It is like a veil that conceals but it is a phenomenon worth watching. Over time we have come to understand how and what it is. Does this knowledge subtract from its beauty when we know the truth of what actually happens? I feel that it adds a dimension of appreciation that is not easy to explain.  My team and I visited a scientist lab that transported me to new dimension a place that is foreign, different and exciting.

We walked through the halls like a maze to a room. Sometimes it feels like I’m in a spaceship walking through the different passages. What I saw was new and strange. Where were the rules? Cancer has no boundaries. Ok let me stretch my mind around what I am seeing. Can I see what I am not seeing?  Cancer is constantly redefining the boundaries of those past ideas that attempt to limit it.

It was my first glimpse at a 3 dimensional live reconstruction of a tumor growing in a petri dish. We had grown accustomed to seeing cancer through a microscope after it had been sectioned and placed on a glass slide. This process was not 2 dimensional at all. I pushed the 3D glasses closer to my eyes as I tried to understand what it was I was looking at. Marveling at what I guess I knew all along but had not seen it to believe.

This makes sense, of course it behaves this way, how else could it have behaved? It moves, it is not static, it is alive, and it evolves. It is intelligent. Even the scientist trying to explain it was searching for how to explain its unique nature.  I left the lab thinking to myself that the world is now round it is no longer flat. Was I now convinced that I should change how I think about this process?

I do not know how to share the beauty of a process that is too fascinating to ignore, its power lies in that which we cannot see.  It is unfortunate because it involves us, humans, and makes us suffer. I look back at my clinic today and all those affected by cancer who have to face it with courage. It is in the hidden complexity, the eclipse that takes our breath away, when what is not seen is revealed. Just like the moon that shields the rays upon the sun allowing us brief moments to contemplate what an amazing natural process this truly is.

Mo

A Good Laugh

Posted on by momilhem

Let’s all laugh. It’s infectious, heartwarming and welcomed. At any time during a conversation. Throw a joke, a comment that grabs attention, a statement that has everyone doing the same action. Laughing with our hearts together as one. Today I was pleasantly taken by surprise. I walked into a room with the most delightful patient. She was on fire. Exploding with one comment after another like she was doing a standup comedy or as she said it “I’d prefer to sit down”. It was my turn to laugh. She had me reeling with laughter till I almost cried. My turn to be entertained. I loved her spirit, her joy, her courage to laugh, to face her cancer head on and to live life fully. She told me of her preparations for her holidays, of her family that was coming of the adventures she will have with cooking, food and sleeping bags.

I needed that laugh. It removes my callous nature when faced with the extremes of this disease. Like a massage removing the tense conversations after a long day. Helping me fall asleep relieved and relaxed. Yes it makes a difference to us all in the field. To be able to laugh with you about such an ordeal. For you to see that as a way to connect and share your thoughts and secrets. You amaze me. Your insecurities and our inefficiencies the food for our amusement. But you make it happen. You add the spark. You allow me to build on the fun of it. And you share with ease your feelings about how when faced with such an adversary that you laugh. I have only you to thank for that.

I love it when I was told “I’m 3 years disease free now, I am glad you have me to feel good about your day”. And I do feel good about that. That you all are out there, showing me the positives of our fight; that you exist. It’s like you better exist, how else could I be who I am? So I urge you, make fun of me, laugh with your heart, share with your smiles and come together as one. And if you really need to just give me a punch, you know the one I promise; I would never punch back. It’s my way of sharing with you the ability to overcome your greatest fear, of being left alone to deal with this disease.

You are definitely not alone. You are family, thank you for making me find laughter even in the midst of the hardest time. For that I hope you soar, high and you roll in laughs as you fight your battle against something that can never take that away from who you are.

Mo