September 12th 2012 was a massive day in my mum's battle to beat bowel cancer as she underwent major surgery to remove a tumour from her bowel. Since being diagnosed back in April and beginning chemo and radiotherapy, everything had been leading up to this moment. The way mum has battled the illness head on and handled all the treatment so bravely has been totally amazing and she is truly inspirational. It is interesting the way mum has focused more on everyday mundane issues such as worrying about whether her plants in the garden will be looked after properly whilst she is in hospital rather than the operation itself. She did an amazing job at putting it out of mind...
The day is itself was spent mainly waiting on tenter hooks for news. We all managed to speak to mum first thing while she was waiting to be taken down for surgery, but there was little else we could do except send her all our love and directing positive energy and thoughts in her direction. I arrived at work at 7:15 to a beautiful sunny morning. Quite cool with an early morning mist beginning to lift, but just a lovely September day. Walking the dogs gave me the perfect opportunity to clear the head and prepare myself for the day ahead.
On such a day it is probably best to try and function as normally as possible, so work wise it was business as usual with my brother Noel off out delivering the packaging materials. As lunchtime came and went my sister Alison had arrived, and we made our first call to the hospital at 2:00 to see if there was any news? Still no news and we were told to leave it until 4:00 before trying again. The waiting game is not so easy as you are desperate to be told something reassuring to put the mind at rest. So I took the dogs for their lunchtime walk a little later than usual and headed for my favourite path that takes you up into the hills away from everything and is just so so peaceful...
We finally got news at 6:00 to say mum was back on the ward. We had been warned that she might end up in intensive care after the operation so that was one immediate worry removed. We had also been warned to expect lots of tubes, possibly a "bag" and mum to be asleep and pretty much out of it. To our huge delight mum was awake, alert minus some of the tubes we were expecting and no bag. She was very chatty and it was astonishing how good she was considering the enormity of the procedure she had undergone. Fortunately the surgeon had been able to perform part of the procedure as keyhole surgery, which he hadn't thought would be the case initially, and this has made a huge difference to the condition of mum post operation. We won't know for a while as to the total success of the procedure in terms of getting rid of the cancer, but fingers crossed it has done exactly that. She still faces a long road back, but none of us could have wished for a better outcome all things considered, and she continues in the way she has so far she will make a complete recovery quicker than we know it!
Why the picture you may ask. When I went out for my walk in the morning I took my camera with me as it was such a beautiful start to the day, and the scene was peaceful and tranquil I couldn't resist trying to capture and on such a day a little bit of photography was a welcome distraction.
On such a day it is probably best to try and function as normally as possible, so work wise it was business as usual with my brother Noel off out delivering the packaging materials. As lunchtime came and went my sister Alison had arrived, and we made our first call to the hospital at 2:00 to see if there was any news? Still no news and we were told to leave it until 4:00 before trying again. The waiting game is not so easy as you are desperate to be told something reassuring to put the mind at rest. So I took the dogs for their lunchtime walk a little later than usual and headed for my favourite path that takes you up into the hills away from everything and is just so so peaceful...
We finally got news at 6:00 to say mum was back on the ward. We had been warned that she might end up in intensive care after the operation so that was one immediate worry removed. We had also been warned to expect lots of tubes, possibly a "bag" and mum to be asleep and pretty much out of it. To our huge delight mum was awake, alert minus some of the tubes we were expecting and no bag. She was very chatty and it was astonishing how good she was considering the enormity of the procedure she had undergone. Fortunately the surgeon had been able to perform part of the procedure as keyhole surgery, which he hadn't thought would be the case initially, and this has made a huge difference to the condition of mum post operation. We won't know for a while as to the total success of the procedure in terms of getting rid of the cancer, but fingers crossed it has done exactly that. She still faces a long road back, but none of us could have wished for a better outcome all things considered, and she continues in the way she has so far she will make a complete recovery quicker than we know it!
Why the picture you may ask. When I went out for my walk in the morning I took my camera with me as it was such a beautiful start to the day, and the scene was peaceful and tranquil I couldn't resist trying to capture and on such a day a little bit of photography was a welcome distraction.
Such a relief that it all went so well! I was sending love all day! And yes photography just helps you come back to the present moment and be grateful for the wonderful world we live in, even with its stresses and worries, it is still a beautiful place :)
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