marilyn4jc's Journal, 16 October 2022

Wow, I'm so impressed the way you've lost weight this year. Great job. You don't speak of yourself much but I'm sorry about your son's cancer. My Birthday is this month also, on the 28th, and I have met my easier goal, barely. I had a tougher (for me) goal 2 lb less but probably can't make it. The lower we go and the older we get the harder it is to lose. I will be 81 and have had sciatica leg pain from my bad back for about 3 months now. From where you worked maybe you are in the San Diego area. My daughter's inlaws are in Carlsbad and they go there often (from Arizona) since his dad is 96 and slipping. I am up in the San Fernando Valley, a lot hotter than SD. We sure have a lot of homeless here. It always surprises me that there is none in Santa Clarita. We go there often for my husband's doctors with UCLA. Thanks for the support, it means a lot. When our daughter told us the first of the week she said she had 2 or 3 lesions on her liver, and although liver cancer usually goes pretty fast it sounded like it just started. Yesterday she shared her bloat has been so bad she looked 8 months pregnant and she has jaundice. I don't think it just started because there are no symptoms at first. She had been highly critical of me the last several months and says she had trouble collecting her thoughts. Google says irritability is one symptom. She is freely sharing with me now. I'd like to think her irritability towards me was the cancer speaking, and that she really doesn't have the contempt for me that it sounded like. Obviously, since I am writing so much I don't have much of an outlet. I live a very isolated life with my husband. Hope your son will be doing better!  

Hello Snow White, My son lashes out too sometimes, not too much at me as I’m not one to take any disrespect, but his wife, my wonderful daughter in law, puts up with a lot. She is an Angel and I’m here for her to vent any time she needs to. I believe the cancer takes each person to the worst of themselves, which I can understand, as it must be difficult to hold all the fear, anger and depression inside. I will be 66 on the 22nd of this month and am looking forward to getting together with my kids and grandkids for my birthday…we usually go out for dinner and this year for drinks. I have a bad knee and losing weight is part of me doing what I can to elevate some pain and allow me to do things I haven’t been able to in a long time. Life can throw you against the rocks now and then, and we do our best to get back on our feet. I lost my youngest son 17 years ago when he was 16 years old. Didn’t think I’d survive that blow, but I did, with the help of friends and family. I’ve resigned myself to the one thought that the only thing we can do is our best at whatever we want for ourselves, whatever goals we want to reach, how we react to situations that we are put in. After all, we can’t be any good to anyone for anything if we ourselves are out of sync. I’ll keep you in my prayers, hang in there, you are stronger than you think…you can rise above anything, and reach goals…it’s not how fast we get there, it’s only that we keep moving forward…. M 

Snowwhite100– liver cancer or liver issues of any kind cause a buildup of ammonia,which causes confusion, IRRITABILITY, loss of memory. The swelling in her abdomen is called ascites which is fluid trapped in her abdomen. I hope she is aware that they can pull that fluid off by doing a paracentesis.yes, at this point she is probably not thinking or acting rationally. 

i am so sorry to hear of the liver issues