Kathleen Yamauchi

Last September we found out that Mom’s cancer had come back for the third time. This time it had metastasized into her bones and soft tissue. 


From there, Mom and Dad decided they would go on a trial treatment. Her doctors were really hopeful and even mentioned possibly having 10 years left. We were all so hopeful. 


Mom’s spirits stayed pretty high through the trial, pushing through intense hip pain and an awful cough, side effects of the treatment. 

On February 13, 2018 we found out the heartbreaking news that the trial treatment had not worked, and in fact more cancer was found. 

On March 9th, Danny, Hannah and Dad took Mom into the Emergency Department due to severe abdominal pain. I met them here that night and it was a heartbreaking sight, however when I saw her she had already been given pain medication to help. Danny, Hannah and Dad definitely saw the absolute worst of it. 

We have been in the hospital since March 9th. The first 3 days were a blur of trying to figure out what was going on with Mom. Severe constipation was causing belly dissension but it wasn’t until Monday the 12th when we finally heard Mom did indeed have a bowel obstruction. That week we worked with some incredible doctors and surgeons who helped us understand the issues Mom was facing.

On Wedneday Mom had a colostomy bag put in. The surgeon said that when he looked inside Mom’s belly there was cancer everywhere. So we praise God that he was able to still find an area of the colon to put in the bag. 

For the next 3 days we watched Mom really suffer as her body tried to heal from the surgery. Those were really rough days.

Thankfully, a few days later we started seeing some good progress with the colostomy bag and Mom was able to start sipping water and having some clear liquids. After a successful day with that she was able to start drinking water. 


Over the next few days we discussed hospice plans and was finally able to come home on Tuesday afternoon.