Updates

I've been away for the last several months (hopefully, someone has noticed), but now I'm back, barring any other life-altering, shattering, overwhelming-ness events in the near future.
Sometime in May, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was a whole lot of hurry up and wait which is very draining on the entire family, but in the end, we realize that everyone we've talked to, dealt with, seen, within the healthcare community has been absolutely wonderful. I'm partial to Kettering Health Network in Kettering, Ohio because that's where I received such excellent care when I had breast cancer. I think they are absolutely the best! I have yet to meet even one person there who didn't give 110% all the time!

While all of this was going on, I had a breast MRI as a follow-up with my cancer care and it showed something suspicious. In the end, it was nothing, but I had to go back for an MRI guided needle biopsy which is double horrible for a person who is claustrophobic, like me. So, there's scheduling, waiting for the results, and a million things racing through my mind. It's really difficult to just "wait". Waiting is an unintentional cruelty that must be endured when it comes to testing and diagnosing. I knew from past experience that the best thing I could do for myself was to keep busy and try not to dwell on it, but that was just impossible. At the same time trying to be there for my mom and what she was going through often meant trying to minimize what I was really thinking and feeling. Everything else just got put on the back burner and I finally feel like I can start moving forward again.

My mom is doing great and is currently in her first week of estrogen blockers, so we'll see how that goes. So far, she's been getting headaches from it, but I'm hoping she gives it a couple of weeks before giving up on it since some side effects do lessen over time.

Anyway, this is a short, and probably dis-connected little post about what I've been up to. There's so much to write about all of this...breast cancer touches so many families. So, hopefully I will stick with following through on writing about my experiences and my mother's because our two cancers were completely different from one another.