All pictures were taken at my wedding Oct. 21, 2000. They are not great but its all I have of the three of us. Both my parent hated being in photos. I alway wished there was more picture of the three of us together but I always thought there would be plenty of time and many more memories to be made. It might be why that I try to take so many pictures of my family and the time that we spend together.
The story starts in 2003 when my parents told me my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer. This in itself was not surprising given that both my parents had smoked since they were 16 or so. Since my grandmother died of lung cancer in 1992 I had been on my parents to stop but never successful. Add to the fact that my mother had open heart surgery in 1997 and had numerous heart attacks and bypasses I had always waited for the night time call to come but it never did, she was a true fighter.
My mother battled hard and I was with her on her first day of chemo. Being a chemist she wanted me to be there to explain things to her and try to make sense out of everything that was happening. Over the next few month she fought through things and started to win her battle with cancer.
Right about this time I got a call on Aug 14, 2004 (yes day of the famous east coast blackout!) that my dad became suddenly and deathly ill and I need to get home to see him. My wife and I drove from Chicago and got there the next day. When I arrived he was in the ICU. Miraculously he recovered fully and to this day no one knows exactly what he had. From this time on both my parents got better and started to live their lives again. I went back to Chicago to finish my PhD and life went on. Unfortunately the story does not end there.
From that day on I called my parents everyday. Then one day in November I noticed my mother was slurring her words. I told her she needed to see her doctor. In my mind I knew what had happened but no one really spoke of it. We (Janet, my wife we'll get to her) went home for Christmas and pretend like everything was fine. We celebrated my graduation and new job and my parents promised me they would take my mom to see a doctor for her speech.
In February I got the call that I had subconsciously been preparing myself for, the cancer had spread to he brain. The rest of that year Janet and I drove to see her every Thursday and left on Sunday. I should mention that the drive was from DC to Albany! She fought until September 4, 2004. I feel lucky that I was there when she passed and got to be part of one of her most lucid moments in weeks. Some people say that there is a last awaking before one passes and I witnessed my mothers. I will save my fathers story for another post.
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| Pamela Forslund 11/20/1950-9/4/2004 |
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