Rick,
My brother is in the same place as your mother. He is only 32. He went for a check up at MD Anderson (Houston) about 3 weeks ago - he had about 6 knots (kind of like mosquito bites) on his neck at the time. As soon as his doctor saw him he said, "David, I don't like the looks of those knots." Cancer was also found in his throat. We, too, were told we are, medically, at the end of the road. They gave him from 1 week to a month - he has made it 3 weeks and is currently in the mountains where he longed to go, "before I get to feeling bad" as he said - as if he hasn't been feeling bad for 2 years now. My sister, who is with him, called today and said, "He's so sick. All the prayers that Maddie and Kaitlin (her 5 and 2 year-old daughters) have said for him aren't going to work. I'm not ready to loose him." I told her, I know he is sick (I left him just a couple of days ago), and, yes, he is dying, but, whether we lost him now or in a year or ten, we would never be ready. Sometimes I begin to feel sorry for him, leaving a wife and little 4 year-old daughter, but then I remember I have to celebrate his life and we have had so much more time with him than many people have with their loved ones. My husband's cousin lost his 41 year old wife to cancer at Thanksgiving. Their little girl is only 2, at least my brother had three more years than that with his little girl. It's not enough, but it is more than it could have been. I don't know if this helps, just support your mother as she fights this - my brother finally has his pain under control and refuses to give up- he will keep on keeping on, until he can't any longer. I don't know how old your mother is, but please find comfort in the years you have had with her - way too few, but so many more than some. Your mother and family will be in our thoughts. And, as Mark said, don't discount miracles. You never know when they will occur.
Tonya
