Prior to diagnosis: Home renovations

**Some of these posts that are ‘prior to diagnosis’ may not seem like there is a point… but they eventually tie into the larger story of my mom’s life and sickness. So, hang in there, even when it doesn’t seem like I’m going anywhere.**

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As I mentioned before, mom had moved in w/ her husband to a house that was not ‘hers’. She had a ‘home’ and it was the first time in her life she had left that for a man. All her ‘men’ had given up their homes for her.

I bring this up b/c it was a really big deal for my mom. And she made it known. When she had stopped working, it was agreed that she would clean out her ‘cabin’ and sell it. I wondered why she took her sweet time and never really tried hard to sell it. But before long, it became obvious that she just didn’t want to let go of that house. It represented too much… I think she felt apart of it or something b/c she always talked about it like it was alive and had feelings. It was kinda cute and sad, b/c you could tell she never wanted to leave it (again… this story to come later).

But nonetheless, she was living in a new house and had to make it work. So it wasn’t long after her and ‘R’ were married that she started the home renovations. You see, the house she was now living in had belonged to her husband and his previous wife. It was where they had raised their kids and so on. I think that freaked mom out. She didn’t like sharing a house that another woman had lived in. So, she made it her goal to change everything about it.

They had built an addition onto the house that was to be my mom’s sunroom. She had just built one onto her cabin before she met ‘R’ and I think she missed it… so if she was to live in his house, she was going to have her sunroom. She had already drastically changed the office, dining room, and kitchen (I say she… but I mean she had ‘R’ do most of it). The living room was a work in progress and she was finally changing their bedroom.

The bedroom was also a big deal to her as she did not want it to resemble the room he had before… it was like a new start for them… wiping the slate clean.

I share all this b/c after mom had finally got all the furniture in place in their new bedroom, that's when her 'ailments' got worse. First the doctors said she had ‘pulled’ something in her back as she was moving furniture around the bedroom. Then it was something about the paint. When her knee gave out… it was again blamed on the home renovations. Her body seemed to be giving out on her and we all simply thought she had been working too hard and straining her body. Little did we know that it was the cancer.