Gloria was suffering from stage 4 lymphoma. She thought it was a skin rash or a possible food allergy. She tried to stay away from tomatoes, chocolate and dairy products for months to no avail. When she peed in her pants, the urologist said it was just incontinence and offered her adult underwear. The allergist and the dermatologist had told her that her skin rash was psychosomatic. After all, Gloria was crazy, bordering on borderline personality disorder coupled with mania and bipolar disorder. The itching didn’t help matters. Close to death she was forced to leave her job, and head to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville Florida with some Yiddish music and her son Heshy the religious Jew.
It would seem as if a persistent itch and skin rash is a common sign of stage 4 lymphoma. Who would have known? Certainly not the battery of physicians that Gloria had gone to see in the months prior to her admittance to the Mayo Clinic. Gloria was at wits end. She didn’t know whether to scratch or cry. She was living a nightmare. Her son was busy trying to find a wife while his seed was still young and strong. Gloria’s elderly mother was busy dying herself. Her sister was busy playing mahjongg in South Florida and her relatives in New York were too busy with themselves to notice Gloria slowly disappearing as a result of her mental illness and stage 4 disease.
My heart goes out to Gloria -- and to you.
Posted by: Denise | Friday, May 27, 2005 at 11:31 PM