by Wonda Waide

Created on: April 07, 2009

Cancer is more real then I could have ever imagined. Death to a family member was not something I really thought about. I talked about it with my father but never really observed the possibility of it happening. I'm not sure what I was more blind to death to one of my parents or cancer being the cause.

My mother was diagnosed with cancer in February 2007. In January she was running in and out of the emergency room because she was feeling sick. Her doctor gave her some medicine and sent her on her way but she was back in the emergency room when he started to run test. Therefore, she only found out she had cancer at the end of February and then told she had a few weeks to live.

I could tell you how great of a mother she was and how her death hurt our little family but the realization is cancer killed my mother and because a doctor was misleading, she had no time to fight it.

Three years prior, my mother was diagnosed with heartburn. I would talk repeatedly with my mother what heartburn was. The reason being was she had her whole life had what we called a weak stomach.
She would explain what we called heartburn and I would say that is not what I call heartburn. However, blinded assuming the doctors know more then me let it go. She battled with her insurance on getting this specific medication because the generic never worked nor did any other sample from the doctor office work. W e should have looked into it or questioned. No, we did not nor did she and she felt he was not the right doctor but she did not want to change because she did not want to have a mammogram and he was a guy doctor who never would ask or make her get one so that was her hold on this doctor.

So she was diagnosed with stomach cancer and by the time they found it, she had large tumors around her stomach. She was scared and in serious pain.

I lost my best friend in the whole world over cancer and I want people to be aware of when you question something if it were yourself or loved one do all you can to open the doors to those questions so that they can get answers. Never just leave it be. Cancer kills and my mother would have had a chance to beat it if she would have questioned earlier or made different decisions as for me to. The signs were there just none of us took notice.

So as a precaution, remember if you have never had heartburn and your symptoms don't match totally to the diagnoses question, question, and more questions until all is clear. Doctors are human and they do not know everything on the contrary what they think.

Cancer cannot only take a loved one but it can also leave behind a trail of what if's. So do not let what happen to my family have done onto yours.

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