[Artemisia] Overdue Sad News
Conchobhar mac Michil
connor.mac.michil at gmail.com
Thu Jan 17 23:33:43 CST 2008
To all my friends in 1000 Eyes, Artemisia, and elsewhere that these
words reach...
I've been putting off making this missive public since last March,
though current circumstances have made procrastinating any further a bad
idea. Some of you out there know parts of this, but have probably not
been updated recently.
March 14, 2007 my wife Sabrina (Lady Catalina Giacomuzzi) was diagnosed
with cervical cancer which we soon found out had also spread to her
colon and liver. After wonderful results with radiation on the tumor in
her colon, and decent progress on the cancer in her liver the chemo was
beginning to have no effect. Being uninsured, the doctors in Las Vegas
decided that they were wasting their time on someone who was probably
going to be terminal. And they decided that they did not want to
continue treatment. Not wanting to give up, and if anything were to
happen, wanting to be closer to friends and family, we moved back to
Pocatello the last day of July. Sabrina started treatment at the
Portneuf Cancer Center and was making good progress for a time. In
November, the IV chemo was having less and less of an effect and her
doctor switched her to an oral chemo treatment. The first two rounds of
that were showing good hope and for the most part she was stabilized.
Between Christmas and New Year's Sabrina started to feel bloated and we
watched her carefully. About two weeks ago her eyes were becoming
jaundiced, so we went into the doctor. An ultrasound of her liver
showed that cause of the jaundice was that the primary tumor in her
liver had gotten more aggressive and was blocking the primary bile
duct. At this point, since her liver cannot process them, she has been
taken off all chemo drugs, and is only on pain medication. The doctor
only gave her at most 6 months, and as few as 1 month to live. Other
than being tired, she was doing fine until this last Sunday. After
getting out of bed and trying to make her way to the bathroom she got
dizzy and fell. Since then she has gotten progressively more confused,
dizzy, and it is becoming harder for her to talk. As of today, hospice
has brought out a hospital bed for her as she can no longer get up and
down the stairs, even with my help. At the rate that she has declined
this week, I don't think that she has much longer; certainly not 6 more
months, and maybe not even another 2 weeks.
I ask that all that would keep her in your prayers and thoughts. When
the time does come that she is taken from me and our daughter and
Sabrina passes on, I, or someone, will pass on information about where
and when the memorial service will be.
With a heavy heart,
Mike Bradley
nee' Don Conchobhar mac Michil
PS To any that might respond to me privately, please understand if it
takes me longer than normal to respond.
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