Anne and Anne
So I spent today with my grandmother. She is out to visit because she was just diagnosed with pulmunary fibrosis. To give you a sense of how many people that affects, about the same amount of people die of that every year as do of breast cancer. Anyway, her sister just received the same diagnosis. It is a genetic autoimmune disorder with no cure. Basically, your lungs scar until you can no longer breathe. The scariest thing, aside from worrying about my grandmother, is that there's a very realistic chance that my asthma has been misdiagnosed and is actually this disease. This happens regularly with people my age, because the symptoms are the same. However, fibrosis is degenerative, whereas asthma should not worsen as I get older in any drastic way. My nana is out here so that she can visit the same pulmonary doctor as her sister, and I am currently trying to get an appointment to see the same doctor, so that he would have the most possible information. It's all just a little overwhelming. Anyway. We had a nice day today. It's cold outside but the sun shines warm through the windows. We made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and I helped her mail some stuff out at the post office. I took her to my bookstore so she could picture where I worked and we shared hot cocoas. We are so much alike. She still talks about Grandad as if he were alive which makes me sad. They were such a cute couple. Maybe in some way or another he is still right there by her side. A lot on my plate today. A lot on my mind. Holler at me if you're around. I could use some levity.