A Big Cancer Thing
Today I am grateful for a Zoom meeting bringing old friends together last evening. We share our early history and the decades between. Now, we share the challenges and blessings of the pandemic times we are in. Thank you all for your familiar and friendly faces and the sharing across the miles.
My sister Aileen wrote the first poem below a few days ago, just days after a confirmed diagnosis of follicular lymphoma. The good news is that it is slow-growing and treatable. The bad news is that it is cancer. In the midst of a global pandemic. I am hopeful for a good prognosis and worried on many levels.
My sister Aileen wrote the first poem below a few days ago, just days after a confirmed diagnosis of follicular lymphoma. The good news is that it is slow-growing and treatable. The bad news is that it is cancer. In the midst of a global pandemic. I am hopeful for a good prognosis and worried on many levels.
A Little Cancer Thing
In the swirl
of a global pandemic
economic meltdown
lock-down
red alert!
red alert!
hesitant to mention
this little cancer thing
my body
hosting
icky cells
can't social distance
from myself
or quarantine
my insides.
Only wish
this little cancer thing
wasn't true.
A.H. 3/20
But it is true. Sister #5 now faces cancer. Yet another case of this damn disease. It was just a year ago when our sister Mary Jo was fading from us, dying of metastatic breast cancer.
Yesterday, on day 2 of the poem-a-day challenge I have given myself, I wrote this one:
of a global pandemic
economic meltdown
lock-down
red alert!
red alert!
hesitant to mention
this little cancer thing
my body
hosting
icky cells
can't social distance
from myself
or quarantine
my insides.
Only wish
this little cancer thing
wasn't true.
A.H. 3/20
But it is true. Sister #5 now faces cancer. Yet another case of this damn disease. It was just a year ago when our sister Mary Jo was fading from us, dying of metastatic breast cancer.
Yesterday, on day 2 of the poem-a-day challenge I have given myself, I wrote this one:
A Big Cancer Thing
The previous generation
The previous generation
paid a significant price
in cancer currency.
Two sisters taken,
another diagnosed.
It didn’t really click though-
It didn’t really click though-
this genetics/environmental mire-
until our generation started being
fed to the insidious cancer behemoth.
One, two, three, four
One, two, three, four
sisters diagnosed and treated.
One fully devoured.
Breast cancer the biggest beast,
but not the only one.
Thought we were done,
Thought we were done,
dues paid in full. Enough.
No such luck.
A new diagnosis in sister #5.
We have a big cancer thing
We have a big cancer thing
going on. Too much.
Far too much.
L.V. 4/2/20
What we do know is that testing done in several of us shows no known genetic mutations. What we speculate, but will likely never know for certain, is that we do have something in our genetic make-up that has made us more susceptible. And that there was something in the environment of our upbringing that also doomed us.
The elusive truth hurts and cancer sucks. Love and prayers Aileen.
L.V. 4/2/20
What we do know is that testing done in several of us shows no known genetic mutations. What we speculate, but will likely never know for certain, is that we do have something in our genetic make-up that has made us more susceptible. And that there was something in the environment of our upbringing that also doomed us.
The elusive truth hurts and cancer sucks. Love and prayers Aileen.
So sorry to hear this. You have a strong sisterhood that will help her through this. Thanks for the update. I'll be thinking about all of you. You can do this! again :/
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