General Discussion & Chat: Best/ worse/ ? did you learn today? #104 visit with friends!, 1 by DebbiesDaisy

DebbiesDaisy wrote:
Betty, I am not going to the funeral home, for that exact reason. There are so many of my DD's friends and our teachers there, this is not the day nor the place for me to totally loose it. Shannon decided she was going to go. She called me after, thankfully it was so crowded she was out on the "porch" in an overflow area, so out of the center of the funeral home.

We have had several discussions on going to the funeral. Shannon said there was no way she could go. It was just not going to happen, so I respected her decision. When someone dies of cancer, Shannon is forced to face her own mortality and the "what ifs". So I let her do what she needs to do. She text-messaged me at 10:00 this morning....asking me to bring her dress clothes down to the school for her, she was going with her BFF Brittney.

Betty, Shannon has had 3 blood clots in her heart. One disolved, and two calcified. Because of her harsh chemotherapy treatment at age 3, she was on a chemo agent Adriamoycin (sp?) and although it does no damage to the heart at the time....when a young child starts to grow...it damages the muscles. And the muscle of its choice, is the heart. We found out about in April of 2005, at age 14, her heart was going thru this damage. She had developed Dilated Cardiomyopathy. So she goes yearly to make sure everything is Ok, there are no changes, and that her medications are at what they need to be. I am sure, when the doctor sees the bruise...she is not going to be very happy.

I just always get nervous at this appointment, because when we went, we thought she just had a respiratory infection or was developing asthma. We were told she was in congestive heart failure at that time. So it is scary what you will find out.

Also, this Friday is her "1st" prom of the season. Her BF Michael goes to a different school, so his prom is Friday. They are on their way to Buffalo to pick up his tux right now.

Here is a picture I took this morning. My lilacs are blooming!

Cant you just smell them?

Debbie