My Kimbo
Thank you so much for your kind emails and comments in my blog. My mind is still so blurred as if I'm having in a bad nightmare that I can't wake up. I lost my precious sister, Kim to liver cancer on Oct. 6th. She was 48 years old.
I know I didn't mention in my blog exactly what happened to my sister in last 20 months. My sister had GIST tumors on her stomach, liver and few tiny spots on her lungs. She underwent surgery to remove half of her stomach on March 30, 2007 . Kim had to take Gleevac medicine for life. She was very optimitic and hopeful to keep the liver tumor strunk or stablized.
Fast forward to last May with the bad news. On a follow up visit, it was found that the tumor on her liver grew bigger. The Gleevac medicine didn't work at all and she took different medicines. She suffered with serious side effects and was very sick all summer. She went through another CT scan in last week of August and found out the tumor grew aggressively bigger. The doctors decided to schedule her to have the surgery to remove half of her liver and gall bladder on September 18th. Before the surgery could begin, Kim had a various health related complications. A CT scan indicated that the cancer has spread throughout her liver. The surgery was no longer an option. The doctors would not be able to give a good estimate for how long she could live but the cancer was too aggressive and told us that she will not live within weeks to two months. The news has broken all of our hearts to realize that my sister is not going to be with us forever. In last two days before she passed away, the doctors informed us that the tumor grows so aggressive that cause her right lung collapsed and told us that she will not live within a few days instead of weeks to 2 months. My sister wanted to approach the time she has left with the strength, grace and dignity. It really defines her personality. She died peacefully on Monday morning on October 6th surrounding with my parents, my DH and me.
We had a memorial service in Milwaukee where my family are from on October 18th and another memorial service in deaf school in Boston where my sister taught mathematics high school last Monday. The services were overwhelming beautiful. My sister has touched many of our lives with her intelligence, generosity, patience, talent, wit, humor, and amazing positive outlook on life. Her high school students where my sister taught told us how much my sister impacted and touched their lives by her caring, patience and positive attitudes. She was the most compassionate person I have known. She cared deeply for the students and her friends in her life and it was always apparent in her actions. If the student had a problem, she was eager to lend an eyes and help in any way she could. If the students were sad, she would cheer them when it seemed impossible. She brought joy and happiness to all of our lives. She was a model of compassion and caring. She was a great role model to high school students.
I really miss my sister so much more than I can say . Her spirit is always in our hearts and minds forever. We bless her on her journey and put our trust in the great Light that surrounds her now. She is home and is free from cancer.
I have to move on with the faith of Lord to guide me with all the strengths and happiness I need from now on. We will leave tomorrow morning to Portland, Oregon for the wedding of my brother-in-law this weekend.
More to come later with the knitting news after I get my life back to normal, hopefully real soon.
posted by Susan @ 10/29/2008
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