Mom's Battle With Cancer

On April 28th, my mom went to the ER with abdominal pain. The CT scan found masses on her pancreas and liver. Testing and appointments were set up. A quick Google search told us Mom only had about 6 months left with us, as pancreatic cancer is not treatable. Fast forward one month, Mom wakes up at 5 am and tells my mamaw she's had a stroke, to call 911. It was around 2 pm before they did surgery because they had to transport her to North Carolina during a storm. She stayed in ICU for a week, where several doctors were caring for her. She wasn't ready to leave the icu when she did, but she woke up and said she wanted a DNR, so their plan changed to comfort care and they moved her to palliative. The left side of her brain has a tennis ball size of damage and she is unable to use her right side. The surgeon thinks her progression is normal, but that she doesn't have enough time to be able to go through rehab like most people would. The ICU Dr. explained how her liver has more cancer than liver and that is causing her blood to clot. She has several pulmonary emboli that could stop her heart at any minute, blood clots in her legs that could moce to the heart or brain, innumerable masses that are not treatable, and it's spreading rapidly. She was on blood thinners when she had a stroke, so they are not effective because of the cancer. I've been told by 5 different Dr's in Winston-Salem (because abingdon cancer center wouldn't tell us) that pancreatic cancer is in the top 3 most painful cancers. This cancer crept up out of nowhere, so we had no time to plan. We have spent 3 weeks in Winston-Salem with mom because she needs full time care and we both have toddlers. We've put air bnbs on credit cards and tried to save money in every way possible. Additionally, we have had to miss work. Mom's insurance doesn't cover all of the care she has and will receive, so that is another expense, as if gas and food weren't costly enough. They don't have a Ronald Mcdonald or st judes for adults, and this has all happened so fast and unexpectedly. If you know Lindsay and me well, you know we don't like to ask for help, especially financial help! We could really use some right now. The plan with mom going forward is to get her home with home health and less intense PT, and to stop chemotherapy because, at this point, the side effects outweigh the benefits. Her team at forsyth is working toward getting her home now, that's all she wants.