Patricia Maniatis Patricia Maniatis

Welcome to the journey of our Mother,, Grandmother, Great Grandmother, and a friend to all that have ever known her. We are using this site to keep family and friends updated regarding our Mom ( Grandma Pat Maniatis ) .

On Dec 3 , 2017 i was at Masonic Home with my Mom at the Chapel for Sunday services. She had been complaining of some discomfort on the right side of her ribs, sometimes radiating under her breast to the sternum for about 3 weeks. The service had just begun and we had only been there about 10 min when Mom got very serious pain. I took her out of the service back to her floor where they immediately checked her vitals and determined her to be stable and not heart related. I then asked if she would like me to take her to ER as she was beginning to be worried about what it was and thought we needed to find out the cause. She was admitted , as it appeared from tests run that she had things going on, possibably from her Gallbladder. The next day prior to being discharged she had a MRI. which revealed a 12. X. 9 cm mass and another 2x2 mass in the duct area in between the Gallbladder and the Liver. Presumably Cholangiocarcinoma ( bile duct cancer). This is a rare form of cancer and treatment is not very successful. On Dec 14 2017, Mom decided not to fore go any further testing leaving us only with the assumption that this is indeed cancer. We have been told by a few reliable sources from the tests done that there is only about a 1% chance of it not being cancer. Due to Moms age and health she would not be a good candidate for any surgery even if she were interested. The only other options would be to under go Chemo and radiation which does not interest her at all. This form of cancer is not a primary source so it is metastatic coming from either the colon or the Gallbladder. Dec 17th Mom went into Hospice. . There is no way of knowing from where at this time , so the time line given was 6 months or less. If this is from the Gallbladder could be much sooner and very sudden.

On Sunday Jan 28th, Mom was fine per the staff at 7am, Pete spoke to Mom at 9:00 , she sounded normal but she told him she didn’t feel well and not to come to visit. Some time between 9-9:30 something happened. They found her on the stool and she didn’t know her name. When I got there at 9:45 she didn’t know my name , although she recognized me as someone she knew when I asked her who I was she said Grandma, when I asked her name she said Kathy. It is presumed she had a stroke. That day I thought that was it. I was there 10 hours and she slept all of it except about 50 minutes . Waking only for minutes at a time. Before the end of day she did know her name, recognized Grandkids and she did awake to eat dinner briefly. However, since then she has not done very well with her thought process. Very delusional and most often when she speaks , has trouble completing a sentence.. or if she does it’s confusing . It has been an extremely difficult few weeks. I have been there everyday with the exception of one and even then I struggled to step away for my own sanity. It’s difficult enough that we are losing her but, the confusion is difficult. She realizes that something is happening to her but she doesn’t understand it so she feels she is going crazy. She said the other day. “ My name isn’t Pat anymore....” I said yes of course it is, , she said “ no I’m no longer Pat , and that’s good because I don’t like who I am now and neither does anyone else”. Just a major heart break. She picks up on other people’s conversations and what she hears becomes part of her sentence sometimes. . She told the nursing director today that she is sorry that it didn’t work out at this job” and that she let so many people down, but it is time for her to go home because she felt she really let her daughter down.

My Mom is one of the strongest Women I have ever had the privilege of knowing and I have been blessed to be able to say she is My Mom. Please, keep her in your prayers that her final days may be Peaceful and pain free. God Bless you all and thank you for your love and support.

With Love,

Kathy