Assuming nothing else happens in the next 13 days (knock wood!)
Ever had one of those years?
.
Let me begin by saying that I'm NOT a person who is into drama, or one who sees the glass as half empty. But I had a year and a half with a HUGE BLACK CLOUD over my house!
And that I'm not playing "can you top this?"...just chiming in with a story I probably wouldn't have believed had it not happened to me.
In June 2008 I realized there was a LARGE lump in my breast. Overnight apparently, a Phyllodes tumor grew there. They're rare; my oncologist has only seen 3, ever. I asked my family doctor to look at is, as I was there for brohchitis. He gave me the phone number of a surgeon and an antibiotic for the bronchitis.
Turns out I was allergic to the antibiotic. I went to the ER when my throat closed up on me and I couldn't breathe.
In July I had a surgical biopsy.
On September 10, I had a mastectomy. The tumor was 10 cm in diameter. That same day, my father in law fell and went into the hospital.
On the 11th, I was released. Half an hour after I arrived home, we got a phone call that my father in law was dying. (His health had always been poor, and the injury was just too much.
Eight days later, he passed away. My husband spent those 8 days alternating between helping me (we have 3 kids, and I was under strict instructions "not to lift anything heavier than a tea cup." Yeah, right.) and driving 45 minutes to bring his mom, who doesn't drive, back and forth to see dad at the hospital 20 mintues away. Peter was absolutely heroic during those 8 days.
Let's see... that was September. Thanksgiving weekend, my kids had 2 sleepovers with their cousins. That Monday, my daughters were both sent home with head lice. Julia had apparently picked them up in the movies the weekend before. My sister was thrilled.
A week later, the babysitter was in a severe car accident.(Helen has, thankfully, recovered fully). We were without a steady sitter until after New Years (and, yes, we both work full time.)
Christmas Eve morning, I received my first radiation treatment of 29.("Ummm, doctor? What do you mean, the 24th??? That's Christmas Eve!!! You DO realize that I'm Santa, right?????")
Ten treatments later, I had a pregnancy scare on the day of my annual review by my chairman. (And, yes, I'm Catholic. With 10 radiation treatments, I still would not have aborted that baby. Peter was once again heroic when he said; "Alice, God has given us 3 healthy kids. If we have one that's not healthy, we'll cope.") I can't for the life of me tell you a single thing I taught that period. Fortunately, the scare was a false alarm.
By February, the radiation burns were bad enough that the radiation oncologist told me I couldn't wear a bra for 2 weeks. "Ummmm, doctor??? You KNOW I teach in a coed high school, right??? And you KNOW that they're only doing reconstruction on the right side??? And that the left side is a typical 51 year old breast??? The kind that NEEDS a bra????" "Yep, Alice, I know all that. But if the skin breaks, you're suseptible to infection." So braless (though blazered and buttoned) it was. (Hence the quote from the tag fairy.)
In March, Peter came home one day before I got home. He walked in to find that our 6 year old dog had died.
On April 6, I had reconstruction surgery. I was home for 2 hours before mom called. My niece's 2 year old daughter had died n her sleep.
I went to see my oncologist in May. He asked about the goiter on my Thyroid, and sent me to an endocrinologist.
In July I had the last of the reconstruction surgeries
On September 1, I had half my thyroid removed. In the hospital that night, with the 9/11 coverage beginning, I dreamt that I was the flight attendant on the flight that was brought down over PA, and that my throat had been slit. I cried all night, and every time I recounted the nightmare for the next 3 days.
And then, last June,I had my annual mamo. They found another lump-- this time on my left side (and thankfully much smaller, only 1 cm.) Surgery was scheduled for June 29th.
That was be surgery #6 in just under 2 years. It was uneventful, and I'm sincerely hoping the black cloud is gone from over my house!!!
Through it all, my family and the people with and for whom I work have been remarkable!
Neither of those are joking matters..
I sure hope you have a better year in 2011. Same for everyone. 
I don't think it was the food court because we only ate there once, on our last morning. We were there from October 1 - the 8th.
