Three: Treatment One: Chemotherapy On December 27 th , 2016, my husband and I met my parents at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Voorhees, NJ. We met with mom’s main oncologist, and a different doctor, Dr. Alex.   According to my mom, she loved him immediately and felt very comfortable.   Really, that’s all that mattered. That other doctor who I mentioned earlier about misdiagnosing my mom with pancreatic cancer did not bode well. My mom didn’t’ care for his bedside manners and she had every right to feel that way.   She was the patient after all. I remember briefly mentioning to Dr. Alex about cells on mom’s pancreas, “stage 4 pancreatic.”   And he calmly said to me, “well when we looked at your mom’s scans, there was nothing on the pancreas. Forget about the pancreas.   She was just misdiagnosed.”   I remember feeling relieved and irked at the same time.   He said it in a tone that was so calm and nonchalant, as if he was getting the check for a coffee. I guess we, the patients and

Two: Mother and Daughter If anyone liked putting the cart before the horse, it was my mom. Her sweet, caring and sensitive nature made up for her almost always jumping to conclusions in almost any given situation. Now that I think about it, my memory only truly recalls that particular flaw of my mom getting the best of me. Whenever I had something to tell her, regardless of its importance, she wasn’t the best listener. She would never just take the information at hand, process it, and then make an informed decision.   At least that was my hope; whenever I’d call her with my fingers crossed. Flaw or not, she was a pro at making assumptions. Here’s a fun story for ya. When our daughter was three months old, my husband and I decided to get her baptized. Being non-religious folk, both my husband and I purely went along with the baptism to mainly please both of our mother’s.   For the record, we both didn’t really have an opinion on it, but knew it would be helpful one day for

One: Annoyed and Angry It was a week after Thanksgiving 2016 and my mother had gone for a yearly follow-up scan for bronchitis, which she contracted the year prior. I know for a fact that she was nervous, but it was only meant to be a follow-up scan to see how her lungs looked. That’s also what I assumed and the same goes for my dad too.  Why do we worry?  We just live our lives and do what we are supposed to do that day.  My mom never missed a medical appointment. I was and still am the same way.  I think by now, I pretty much have every doctor you can think of.  We both were awesome at staying on top of yearly medical visits. I could do without the dentist, but I can suck it up twice a year. We can do everything right in life and sometimes it just doesn’t give a shit about our plans. My mom had the warmest heart; always wanting to help others and almost always had a smile on her beautiful face. She never smoked and hardly ever drank.   And when she did enjoy a cocktail, it

Preface:   My Mother’s Eulogy First, I’d like to thank all of you for being here today to celebrate my mom. For everyone who has visited mom in the hospital and while she was in hospice, to the many, many phone calls, emails and texts my dad and I have received, and for all of the delicious food brought over and sent by many of you and all of the beautiful flowers, it’s all been amazing and very comforting during this difficult time.   This just proves how many lives my mom has touched. My mom had the kindest soul. She always wore her heart on her sleeve and made sure that your needs came before hers. This was one of the many disputes we’d get in together because for the longest time, I would always tell her that she was too kind and that I wish she would worry about herself too.   Her own needs would always come last. I’m a firm believer in making time for ourselves everyday and doing things that make us happy because it is extremely important. As a mom myself now, I’m no