A little sigh of relief

On Sunday, Mom went to an acute care clinic for fever, congestion and a few other bothersome things. I can't remember the last time she was sick enough to actually make a trip to the doctor, much less an acute care clinic on a Sunday morning. She was there most of the day (3.5 hours) and left w/the diagnosis of bladder infection, sinus infection and bronchitis. Because of the coughing and bronchitis, they did an x-ray on her chest. On Monday, the clinic called her and said that she needed to make a follow-up appointment w/her regular care physician . The x-ray had showed a spot on her lung, and her regular doctor needed to sign a referral for a CT scan on the lungs. This is when my worry factor kicked into overdrive!

I knew that it was probably nothing. But, what if it wasn't? Mom smokes. A lot. Has for years. What if something was really wrong with her? What if the smoking had taken it's claim? What if that spot was cancer? The questions and worry started building and fast.
I could tell she was worried, too. When we spent the day together on Wednesday, she would say, "I know I shouldn't be doing this" every time she lit a cigarette. I didn't say anything. It wasn't the time to get on my soapbox about smoking. She's heard me rant about it for years upon years, I wasn't going there Wednesday when we were spending our day together Christmas shopping.

She had her CT scan today, and the spot on her lung is a granuloma. Granulomas are simply scarring in the lungs that are caused by infections of the lungs with inflammation severe enough to cause scarring. She is still sick with her sinus infection and bronchitis. I know what she did, she felt better, so she shopped all day the other day, wore herself out, and is back to feeling like crap. I can't fuss, I've done the same thing. I think all women have.

I'm breathing a little sigh of relief. I don't know if she realizes just how worrried and scared I was this week. I'm glad the spot is not cancer. I'm really hoping this will be her wake-up call to stop smoking. I know she knows the dangers, and I know she knows she needs to quit. Just doing it is a different story.