My life changed just a couple of days before Mother’s Day. A good friend of mine had emergency surgery due to a ruptured intestine. It turns out the rupture was caused by a tumor. The day after Mother’s Day test results revealed the tumor is cancerous, is at stage 2.
I went and visited with my dear friend “Mimi” at the hospital. I was glad to see she was in great spirits although she was telling me everything was fine.
The following day I found out that reality had finally “hit” her.
Cancer has personally not touched me but it has touched people very close to me. Whether it has been skin cancer, liver cancer or even colon cancer, to me, Cancer is Cancer.
My ex husbands Uncle Randy lost his life to Cancer in 2000. He had a very aggressive form of Cancer diagnosed in late 1999 and fought it for nine months until he succomed to it at MD Anderson in Houston,TX.
Around that time Mamaw Gordon, my ex husbands grandmother and Randy’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a radical mastectomy including having lymph nodes removed. In 2006, Mamaw also succomed to cancer that had recurred.
I could go on and on about the people I know who have been affected by Cancer personally or by someone who is very close to them.
As for Mimi, she will be starting Chemotherapy soon.
Personally my feelings are numb at the moment. I cannot fathom what she is going through though I am glad she has a big family whom I know is taking care of her and will in the upcoming months as she recovers.
Deep inside it does hurt because I do not want to see anyone I love and care about suffer. I know that deep inside that Mimi is a strong person and she will get through this.
I have seen what Cancer does to the patient as well as their family and friends. To me, it is so very important that there is a support system in place. Not only does the Cancer patient/survivor have to have support, mentoring and motivation everyone around that person does.
To be positive about anything whether it seems so bad, so negative on the outside is vital to survival.