Thought she had early signs of Dementia ... ended up being brain tumors

by Corinne

Where does one even begin to share the shock of what was really happening to my mom?
It all started in April ... my moms blood pressure went up and we had to get her on some different blood pressure pills. She then started with what we thought was anxiety. She would have these spells and need to go outside for fresh air. Twice, we had her tested for dementia and the doctor thought she was in early signs, but too soon to treat with medication. Mom also started to struggle with depression at this time which she never had in her life.

So this is what we think we are dealing with. All of a sudden, things take a totally different turn. Aug.24th, we think our mom has had a slight stroke. She goes for a CAT Scan and we get a shock of our lives. Mom has 3 metastatic brain tumors and an x-ray shows a spot on her lung. We do not know at this point where else the cancer is ... further testing shows us later.

The doctor tells us she has about 6 months left. Okay, my sister and I take a leave from work and we are going to care for mom at home. How quickly things changed. We have to admit mom for a few days to our local hospital to get fluids in her through IV ... the Dr. meets with us and tells us our mom is doing better than expected. He was upfront that day, but put us in even more of a shock. Statistics ... we were only given 1 month with mom, not 6 months. He said he did not want to tell us that from the beginning as we had enough heartache knowing she had cancer.

My mom lived longer than expected. Does that make one feel better? not at all. She was diagnosed Aug.26 and she dies on Remembrance Day, Nov. 11th. I look back on things and cannot believe we thought she had dementia, depression, a stroke; but it was cancer. Then I wonder why I am struggling. Everything happened so fast ... my mom is gone and I miss her sooooo much.