Today was supposed to be a day for good news.
Good things are happening to me. I'm excited, and I'm happy, and bad stuff is looming in the background but I've actually got something I'm looking forward to.
Then this afternoon, I got a phone-call.
A particularly close family friend was diagnosed with breast cancer. She'll be undergoing a single masectomy this weekend, and two weeks down the road, she will be started on chemotherapy.
There are more than one sad things about this scenario. First of all, she's alone. She's never married, never dated, no kids, nothing. She looks after her very old, very frail father, and works at a very big computer company. But she's alone, in terms of emotional support. Well, her dad is there, but she hasn't told him. She doesn't want him to worry. She went for all the tests alone, all the scans and meetings and insurance calls, all alone.
Secondly, her mother passed away from brain cancer. She didn't start off with brain cancer, but brain cancer ended her life. This family friend witnessed her mother die, slowly and painfully, because at that point in time medical science hadn't developed enough to actually help in any meaningful way. I'm sure that rationally, this lady knows that she's going to be much better off than her mother, and that she'll come out on the other side and she'll survive to see another day. But emotionally, putting the rational part of everything out of mind, god, she must be terrified.
And she only told my mum now, because it's coming close to the surgery and she wants mum's help in getting to and from the hospital, and staying overnight with her father. She doesn't even want anyone to go into the hospital with her. It's enough to make me cry. I can only wish I'd be as strong as her. She's still going to work. It's incredible.
I've got my fingers crossed for her. There's nothing else I can do but hope with all my heart that she's fine.
Why do bad things happen to good people?
Then this afternoon, I got a phone-call.
A particularly close family friend was diagnosed with breast cancer. She'll be undergoing a single masectomy this weekend, and two weeks down the road, she will be started on chemotherapy.
There are more than one sad things about this scenario. First of all, she's alone. She's never married, never dated, no kids, nothing. She looks after her very old, very frail father, and works at a very big computer company. But she's alone, in terms of emotional support. Well, her dad is there, but she hasn't told him. She doesn't want him to worry. She went for all the tests alone, all the scans and meetings and insurance calls, all alone.
Secondly, her mother passed away from brain cancer. She didn't start off with brain cancer, but brain cancer ended her life. This family friend witnessed her mother die, slowly and painfully, because at that point in time medical science hadn't developed enough to actually help in any meaningful way. I'm sure that rationally, this lady knows that she's going to be much better off than her mother, and that she'll come out on the other side and she'll survive to see another day. But emotionally, putting the rational part of everything out of mind, god, she must be terrified.
And she only told my mum now, because it's coming close to the surgery and she wants mum's help in getting to and from the hospital, and staying overnight with her father. She doesn't even want anyone to go into the hospital with her. It's enough to make me cry. I can only wish I'd be as strong as her. She's still going to work. It's incredible.
I've got my fingers crossed for her. There's nothing else I can do but hope with all my heart that she's fine.
Why do bad things happen to good people?