Mom in hospital

As you can see by this post's title, all is not well at my house. Mom's been taken to the hospital after displaying some alarming cognitive symptoms. She's being looked over as I write this; hopefully, we'll know more in a few hours.

To be honest, I'm not sure how much information I'm willing to divulge on the blog. Friends are, of course, free to email me. The important thing for Kevin's Walk is that, depending on what we find out today, I may or may not be heading out west. There's even a chance that the walk might be canceled as personal matters take precedence. Life gives you only one mom, after all.

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UPDATE, October 31, 2009: As is obvious to those who have followed this blog since April 16, I've had little trouble writing about our family's journey as we deal with Mom's ever-worsening brain cancer. If you're a newcomer, welcome to this humble chronicle of Mom's life. I'm her eldest son Kevin; I have two younger brothers, David and Sean, who do what they can for Mom during their free time and who are often cited on the blog. My father, also a David but known to the world as "Ned," is retired; he and I stay at home and provide Mom with 24/7 care.

If you're wondering how to read these blog entries in proper chronological order, here's how: scroll to the bottom of this blog post, find the link that says "newer post," and click it. The next blog entry in the series will come up. It's a long slog, trying to catch up on everything that's happened since April 16, but if you're one of Mom's close friends, I trust you'll care enough to want the details.

The story that follows isn't a happy one, and based on what we know about Mom's cancer (it's the same brain cancer that Ted Kennedy had), we know that there's no happy ending in store for us. All we can hope is that Mom will live as long as technology (and our care) makes possible, and that her remaining time with us will be both happy and pain-free.

PS: Impatient folks can read a brief summary of events from April to early November here. This will be updated periodically.


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