August 4, 2010

Mom Interrupted

I just got done reading a book that Lance's uncle John Viehweg wrote called Mom Interrupted.  It is about a family who faces cancer.  Lana, who is Lance's aunt, passed away in December of 2003.  I read it in about 3 days.  It hit home because it was family.  I knew all the people that they talked about in the book.  John and Lana Viehweg had 9 children. Ranging from 18 years old to 4 yrs. old.  She was diagnosed shortly after Halloween and passed away 6 weeks later.  It all started with a cough that had been lingering for a long time.
She went to have an exam and the doctor reccommended a physical and a mammogram.  That is where they discovered a lump in her left breast.  So they sprang into action.  After a lot of tests and waiting they found out that the lump in her breast was a cyst but there was still a concern about her cough.  So they did an ultrasound and more tests on her lungs and found multiple things.  Cancer on her lungs and also on her liver.  So they started Chemo and that is when it all started going down hill. 
To make the long story short, she had all of her come to town for some cheering up and they thought she was better but my mother-in-law Sharon, who was her older sister,  spent the night with her in the hospital so John could go home and get some rest.  He wrote that he left the hospital hearing these two sisters giggling and knew that all would be well and that Lana was in good hands.  Sharon calls John early in the morning with urgency in her voice telling him that a code blue had gone off for Lana. She wasn't breathing well or responding to the nurses who came in a regular intervals to check her vitals.  So John quickly went to the hospital and she was in the CCU, Cardiac Care Unit.
Lana didn't make it.  She was a fighter from day one and she never gave up. Throughout the book she always said "Bring it on!" Lana was so swollen from all the fluid retention in her abdomen. She had a hole in her liver that was not allowing the blood transfusions to work thus filling her body up with fluid.  She had lost her hair, and John explains that her body was convulsing on the table that she had been strapped to and all the tape holding all the tubes to her face.
Lana had a great love for music.  Everything she did was centered around music.  She loved her children and was a great homemaker.  John gathered all of his 9 children around Lana including family members and they sang a few hymns and said a prayer and she passed away.
I am constantly amazed at how well this family has been able to cope with the loss of a mother and wife.  They have moved on and are still strong as ever. My hat goes off to John and all those other people who helped them out.
John has since remarried and her name is Deborah. She has taken on the incredible challenge of being a mother to 9 other children besides her 3 from a previous marriage. She is a superhero. So is John.
I haven't been able to stop thinking about this book.  It has filled me with more devotion to my husband, children and friends as well.  Life is too short so live it up!

1 comment:

Brittany said...

You should post this on here. :) http://www.mominterruptedbook.com/
I'm glad you liked it.