Circle of Life

As our kids grew up, we watched a lot of videos or maybe as MY kids grew up we watched videos, maybe as your kids are growing up you watch DVD’s but one of my girls’ favorites was The Lion King. In The Lion King they referred to the circle of life. I’ve had some sobering moments in the past year or two. One was when my dad passed, the other was turning 50 and realizing that we’re all only dealt a few short years to live on this earth and the most recent was just last Thursday when I decided, after several nudges from friends and family that I needed to be at my mother’s bedside in Ft. Worth, Texas when they did a biopsy to see what the tumor in her brain consisted of.

I missed a few votes on the House Floor and I always struggle with not letting things in my personal life get in the way off me getting my job done, but I went, and I was where I needed to be and I’m very glad because for the first time in my life I saw my mom scared. We knew there had been some issues and that she was having trouble processing information and that her speech had changed, her writing had gone down hill and several of those tell-tell signs indicating that something is not right in the computer and after doing a brain scan, the tumor was found. What we were yet to find out was what the tumor consisted of. Was it an abscess, or a benign tumor of some kind or the dreaded “C” word? We found out after the needle biopsy was performed that it was indeed cancer. We don’t know exactly at this point what the prognosis will be but we did find from the initial pathology reports that it was lymphoma which probably means there is cancer in other places. We also are encouraged that this is the most treatable form, from what we are hearing. Mom will be 79 in April and she’s not in too bad of shape otherwise and wants to take treatments. The doctor was pretty realistic with us and we don’t know what the future will hold but we are hopeful that she will respond well and that the tumor can be shrunk and that her brain function can come back to some degree and that we can manage this disease. My mom is a fighter, always has been and I’m just hoping that that fighting spirit is in there somewhere because she’s going to need it. Of course she will need lots of prayer and it’ll take a lot of determination to win this battle.

There’s nothing that realigns your priorities like having a ton of bricks dropped on you from a second story window which is kinda’ what this feels like. My challenge in the next 3-4 months will be to stay focused on what’s really important and to try to be supportive of my family as we deal with what will be a long, bumpy road. I know that we are not the only ones to have to face this there are many, many families that are dealing with or have dealt with a loved one that is being treated for various types of cancer. I always hung my hat on the fact that there was not a lot of cancer in my family, until now. This changes the game and it makes you reevaluate and probably the good news is that it helps you focus on what’s really important. Hopefully, by the time you are reading this we will have a lot more information and a treatment plan in place and a little more clarity on where we are and what we can expect, but I do see more trips to Ft. Worth in my future and it really doesn’t matter what gas prices are or what else is going on in my life that under any other circumstances would seem really important. I’ve gotta’ try to be there as much as I can for the lady who brought me into this world. So I’ll do everything I can do to support and encourage her as she begins this journey and will pray for a good outcome. We’ll keep you posted as things progress and as always, prayers are appreciated.

If you would like to contact me at the Capitol, feel free to call 1-800-522-8502 or email me at donarmes@okhouse.gov

And here’s a little something to think about as you go down the road:
“From the bitterness of disease man learns the sweetness of health.”-Catalan Proverb