Shannanigan's Search for More...

Why is the sound of a rooster crowing so grating and disgusting? Perhaps it's just me...maybe to others the sound is refreshing, or humorous, or makes them feel like they're out in the country and one with nature. To me, it's just annoying.

Chris' grandmother got a few chickens and a rooster so that she wouldn't have to buy eggs anymore, but the dang rooster doesn't stop crowing after sunrise! It starts at about 4 am, but I never hear it, thank God...but then I'm getting ready to leave at 8 or 9 am and it's still "Errrr-er-er-er-errrrrrrr!" ing all over the yard! Ugh! Makes me wanna grab my bow and an arrow and just...hmph.

Maybe I'm just in a peeved mood. My stepfather's mother (step grandmother?) has cancer and the doctors gave her anywhere from two months to 8 years...basically, they say it's too hard to tell, and that different people in her situation have always handled, battled, or given into their cancer differently and so giving a timeline is near impossible. He did say that there was nothing more they could do for her except to give her pain pills, which is what they did.

Now, my mom has been trying to look up all sorts of alternative treatments that the government has not been allowing the medical world to use (she's been reading this conspiracy book...) She's found a LOT of stuff...accupuncture, herbs, certain vegetables...and she keeps buying these things and making appointments (she can afford it) with specialists to try and battle this out. Here's the thing: my "stepgrandmother" wants it, when my mom is around she listens intently and plans to do everything it takes...but her daughters (my "stepaunts") are already in the mindset that her life is over and they need to just "keep her comfortable" and wait for the cancer to take her.

Now, mind you, I'm not arguing against the "if I'm old and I've lived a happy life and I'm going to die I'll just lay back and let it happen" idea. In certain situations, if that's how the person feels, then why not? No need to spend lots of money and effort trying to keep someone alive when they are ready and willing to give in. But she doesn't want to give in! She did an accupuncture session and got up, ate a full meal for the first time in months, took a walk, and was lively and happy. She has hope, but she is living with her daughters and they, well, let me just explain it with a story:

My stepfather got a phone call from one of his sisters saying "Come over now, quick, Mom's asking for everybody to be around her and asking for the pastor to come." He's thinking it's the end, that the sisters finally told her to just give in and she listened, so he races over there with my mom. They get there and his mother is so drugged up on painkillers, that she doesn't even know he's there, can't recognize him or his voice and has no idea what's going on. She's laying in bed and her daughters have given her flowers to hold to her chest, as if she was already dead. My mother held back her disbelief out of respect, but once the drugs wore off and my stepgrandmother was fine again, my mom went to the fridge and saw that all of the foods and alternative medicines she had bought had been thrown away.

It's like the sisters don't want her to even try to get better...maybe they're scared of getting their hopes up only to have it all fail, but if their mother wants to try than UGH don't you think that they should let her?!?!

The daughters are going away next week, and my mom is hoping to just move my stepgrandmother into their house where she can have a more positive atmosphere and support. I know that if she were to ever tell my mom "it's okay, I'm ready to go," that my mom would just let it go...but she has never once said that, and has always seemed interested and excited about the alternatives...I really just hope that my stepgrandmother gets what she wants, whether its a fighting chance or a resigned passing.