As you know we lost Dad on September 14, 2014 and I had a rough time with that.
After that work was very busy catching up from a rough start to the semester. Then there were all the first holidays to deal with and I wasn't prepared for how hard they would be. I mean, I knew they would be rough, but they were truly devastating (although I tried to put on a good face for Mom, brother, and the relatives...especially the kids).
The Saturday before Christmas I received a call...the biopsy came back malignant; I had breast cancer. Except for my Mother, D's parents, and our brothers we refused to tell anyone until after the holidays. Mom was a mess, as you can only imagine. I wasn't much better, but I've been through so much medical stuff that my plan was just to beat it an move on.
January and February were full of doctors appointments because when you are a heart patient, with a pacemaker, radiation becomes dangerous. There were so many precautions that needed to be taken: stress tests, ekgs, echocardiograms, etc. etc. My pacemaker was checked daily throughout radiation. Loads of fun.
My oncologist chose a new "targeted" radiation as our best option. So on February 26, I had the lumpectomy; the following Friday I had a procedure to insert a catheter for the radiation to go through. Then, over Spring Break I had radiation treatments 2x a day for 5 days. And it was done. It was the worst Spring Break ever!! During the process, luckily almost at the end, I picked up the stomach flu which made things really nasty.
That was last week. I'm back to normal now with a pile of projects on my desk to be done. I have regular schoolwork; an article; a children's book; 2 presentations; and other research I want to do. One day at a time I try to knock things off the list. The idea is to keep moving forward one day at a time.
So far Mom, brother and I have gotten through their anniversary, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and just today...Mom's birthday, as firsts without Dad. It's a painful, but necessary process that we will deal with for the rest of our lives. There is a big hole that Dad used to fill.
