Ursula Sellers

Welcome to Mom's CaringBridge website.  We plan to use it to update family and friends on how she's doing and provide a place for people to leave well wishes for her.   Currently Mom is doing very well considering that she has stage 4 cancer.  Her energy level is pretty high and thankfully she hasn't had any pain to speak of.  Thank the Lord for that! 


To catch everyone up on Mom's story.....  The first indication that anything was wrong, at least from my perspective, was  that back in May when Tatum and I went  to Missouri for a visit, Mom mentioned that she had been feeling ill the week before we got there.  She had been experiencing traditional stomach virus type symptoms, but while we were there she seemed like she had recovered.  We had a great time visiting and left thinking everything was ok.


In June though Mom started feeling bad again, but didn't tell anyone until she was really bad off.  By July she had been to her PCP and taken a course of medicine but she was continuing to decline so on  July 2nd Aunt Priscilla took her to the urgent care.   She was admitted to Jefferson Memorial for dehydration and several other issues.  After testing they determined that she had "Intussusception" which is when part of the intestine telescopes on itself.  That's a common illness in children under 3, but not in older people.  She had surgery on July 5th to make repairs in her intestine and during the surgery they found cancer.  Initially they thought it was ovarian cancer, but we've since learned that it originated in the colon.


Mom was released from the hospital on July 14th,  but wasn't doing well so Matt had to take her back in on the 16th due to dehydration.  She was released again on Monday the 18th and has been slowly recovering ever since.... at least recovering from the surgery.


Over the next several weeks she had several doctors appointments and  tests ran and in the end they said her best course of treatment would be chemotherapy, but that it wouldn't be a cure.  At best it would only extend her life by a few months.  Obviously that's devastating news.  Mom has chosen not to take the therapy and instead has entered into Hospice care in the hopes that she'll have more good days ahead of her.   Our goal now is to help Mom stay at home as long as practical.  We're doing everything we can to make life easier and enjoyable for her. 


Not knowing how fast the cancer will progress makes it so difficult to make plans for her care, but we're doing the best that we can and pray that we make the right decisions when needed.  


Matt and I will do our best in keeping this website updated with any changes or new information we get.  We'll also make sure Mom sees any comments or well wishes that are left for her. 


Several people have helped Mom out in one way or the other but in particular Aunt Priscilla, Uncle Roy, Aunt Barbara and Uncle Bob have been godsends.   Mom's truly blessed to have such caring family and friends.