Thursday, February 15, 2007

Good News v.s. Bad News v.s. Waiting for News

I got really good news about my biopsy - just another benign fibro adenoma. I was so relieved and thankful. However, this weekend I got some really bad news about a dear friend. I was assigned to visit teach Martine last year when our ward boundaries changed. I have grown to really love this wonderful and beautiful woman. She has been fighting cancer for many years - she had inflammatory breast cancer 10 years ago and more recently has lung cancer. In her battle, she signed up to be in a study of a new drug. In order to do so, she had to have a CAT scan. When she went to her Dr. last Friday, she was in a lot of pain and they discovered fluid in her lung. He put her in the hospital immediately so they could drain the fluid. While there, she got the results from the scan and it showed cancer in her brain. I was absolutely devastated. I went to the hospital to see her on Sunday. She was released late Sunday night, and I went to visit her on Monday. Her one hope was to be accepted for the study. When I asked her what plan B was, she replied "there is no plan B." I took some dinner to her on Tuesday and she was beaming all over - she did get accepted for the study. Our ward is having a special fast for her on Sunday. I also have a friend at work who had radiation treatment for breast cancer last year. She just had another lump removed this week, and is waiting for results. She is a little nervous, and I totally relate to that having just experienced that. They are just hoping it is some calcification. This is how I feel:

Cruel and ugly disease

A medical perplexity

Not a respecter of persons

Cannot be cured

Ever a threat and cause of fear

Robs us of life

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

My room mate Jenny from USU- her moms cancer is back everywhere and they give her a short amount of time to live- so unfair! Last time she had it she prayed to live until her youngest got home from his mission. He got home 2 weeks ago!

Chris Grover said...

I think the thing that makes me realize the scale of cancer is that we ALL have a story or many stories about it. Someone we love, maybe ourselves, there are just so many people effected by this devastating disease. I'm so, so glad to hear that you are ok, Karla. We prayed for you.