redfirefaery

my mom & syndrome x

my mom told me some bad news today. at an appointment with her doctor on monday, her doctor told her flat out "you are dying." the reason? an unusual, and recently acknowledged, disorder named to me as "syndrome x."

what is syndrome x? from what i understand, the effects are similar to diabetes. cells can't, for some reason (yet unknown), take in sugars from the foods the affected eats. however, unlike diabetes, it is NOT a lack of insulin. it is just a case of "cells don't feed themselves."

so, now, the wide variety of unusual systemic issues she has had over the course of the years have a common link. it has been found that syndrome x can affect everything from blood pressure and thinking ability to reproductive health. some of the symptoms my mom has had include ovarian cysts, redness in her hands and feet (which is actually unused insulin pooling in her extremities), and now high blood pressure.

at this point, all ma's doctor can do is treat her symptoms. her body will eventually starve, but that could take years. after all, she has had the syndrome at least since puberty. her new blood pressure meds could help and take her out of that danger, or she could have a stroke or heart attack next week. we don't know.

so we wait. while we wait, we celebrate everything we possibly can. we gather family for dinner or movies or games or... we get all the love we show in now, because that's what we've got.