Friday, September 27, 2013

Difficult Lessons Ahead

For the first time in weeks, I felt like a happy, healthy adult yesterday. Real clothing, contacts in eyes, and even lipstick. I ran my errands but had a bit of extra time so I went to DSW where I found a cute pair of black low heals with satin ribbons and a new coin purse. Such good prices on both items! As I was leaving, I ran into a neighbor we have known since moving here in 1982. Gayle had two children and after her daughter was sixteen, she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. She was super skinny, loved driving fast cars and was a hoot. It was a shock to the family that she was so ill. About 15 years ago, she underwent lung transplants and tragically, died on the operating table.

Gayle and I talked about her daughter yesterday. Currently, there are weight minimums because of the number of deaths, specifically with cystic fibrosis patients as they are always struggling to keep any weight on them. If her daughter was going into transplants today, there is no way they would operate on her until she hit the 25 BMI minimum. It is sad that it took so many deaths to realize that the survival rates were tied to BMI rates.

Driving back to the coast, I met Natalie for a non-stop talk-fest while having our toe nails done. It is great living in a small town. Fong, the owner of the shop, didn't know that Natalie and I knew each other but also tied her to Winnie, who was just in as part of a toe painting party with three other girls. He told Natalie, "Your daughter was here! She talked non-stop! She is leader!" Yup. That's Winnie!

We talked a lot about her job as a music teacher and the kids and Ethan's job and her house hunting adventures. We also talked about her dad. He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and last week's biopsy reveled that it was Stage 3 and in some surrounding lymph nodes. Treatments begin soon.

After Michael got home last night, he played a voicemail message for me from his phone. It was Mark. We were supposed to go to their house for dinner the day I went into the hospital almost three weeks ago. He and his wife Marianne went through high school together, have two daughters and have been married forever. He was a mess. Marianne was diagnosed with ovarian cancer yesterday. Horrible news. I felt almost sick. My heart just broke for her. Their lives will be in the crisis stage for a time. It will be awhile until they will be able to even begin to plan and learn how to live well with a bad diagnosis. Until then, I will offer any support that would be helpful.

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