Understanding things are hard for most people these days, this post is hard for many reasons, but it is finally necessary as we are in need of extra care to keep mom (Christine Pierce) comfortable. With her permission, I am able to share some of her story over the last couple of years, as we ask for some help moving forward.

If you've been following, then you know that mom has been fighting hard to live since November of 2023. Following a procedure she was pressured into doing, she ended up in the hospital with multiple perforations in her intestinal tract. She then had what was supposed to be a surgery to not only mend the perforations but also help make life a little more bearable. She has had nothing but a domino effect of issues ever since. Multiple, long stretches in the hospital, for the first year with no real answers, no real relief. Last fall, they put her on complete (and what would later be permanent) GI rest, making ingesting food not an option. She has been on an IV form of nutrients, total parenteral nutrition, ever since. She would continue to go in and out of the hospital over the first half of this year, leading to more tests/scans with no real answers or plan of action, and continued interventions, complications, and pain. Mom was about ready to give up. In June of this year, after being discharged from St. Rose just a week prior with antibiotics for what they deemed to be "abscesses in her abdomen," the pain jumped over to her left hip and was so bad that she couldn't walk. This time we took her to Southern Hills Hospital, and although they never did source the pain in her hip, they did look harder at those "abscesses" and finally confirmed that Mom's cancer, GIST (Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor), had in fact returned. We were told she had one large tumor, 8cm, in her lower left abdomen, with possibly others in and around the area of her spine. With this being a reoccurring cancer, they immediately deemed it to be stage 4 GIST. However, Mom's will to live told her to try the chemotherapy that worked last time, and so she did! Unfortunately, with everything else going on inside her body, and the inability to be eligible for any type of abdominal surgery, it was recommended that the side effects of taking the chemo were far worse than the benefits, and she discontinued treatment shortly after.

A few more in and outs of the hospital and rehab facilities, the decision was made to move her to home hospice in August, with the hopes that we could keep her comfortable in her own home. Two weeks ago, that same pain that she had in June on her left side, flared up on her right side and put her in a hospital bed in her living room. We are doing all that we can between hospice, outside care, and the family, to tend to her needs daily. Unfortunately though, hospice care is not full-time and leaves a lot of gaps to be filled. Her needs from a medical professional have almost tripled since moving into the bed, and we need to increase her home care to keep her comfortable. Private home care is expensive, and we are trying to continue to keep her at home for as long as possible. This is where she is happiest and where she wants to be for as long as she has left. Setting up a formal request for monetary contribution was something she had hoped she would never have to do; she'd much rather give the funds to the animals, but in order to give her what she deserves: comfort, care, and dignity, it is now necessary. Through all of this, she has always done her best to face the hurdles and immense amounts of trauma and pain with HOPE, a SMILE, and her LIPSTICK on! She still wakes up every morning with the HOPE to get better, even if it's just enough to have a visit with a friend or her grandbabies! She is incredible and it is our goal to allow her to find peace and comfort through all of this. Any kind of contribution you are able to give will help us to do that better. Thank you so much for being such an important part of this journey.