Relief

I haven't mentioned this here, I think because I was too scared to talk about it. I know I've mentioned my family in spurts here and there but not a lot. As a little reminder, I have a small immediate family - my brother (M), two aunts (L & C), and my grandparents. That's it.

A few weeks ago during a check for fibroids my aunt L was told there was a mass on her kidney and they would need to take it out. Of course this sent my family into a tizzy because we all worry and freak out about anything. Luckily the surgery was to be laparoscopic, which meant less recovery time. The surgery was last Friday and L came through it great. She got to go home Monday morning and just has to take it easy for two weeks (no working or driving).

Here's the really scary part (as if the surgery weren't enough). On Friday my grandma and C were talking to the doctor who said that the chances were 10% the mass was benign and 90% it was malignant. There are no words to describe how devastating that news was. 1 in 10 odds is not good and we were preparing ourselves for the worst.

I remember thinking of all the possibilities of her needing a lot more tests to check for other cancer then radiation or chemo or both. I couldn't stop my mind from coming up with the most horrible things. As much as I wanted to believe it would all be okay I was having a hard time holding onto that.

We got the results back last night - she was one of the 10%. I almost cried when my grandma called to tell me. I called L right away to make sure that's what they said and she said even the doctor was surprised. Everyone hears 90% cancer and they assume that's what it's going to be. This time we assumed wrong and I couldn't possibly be happier to be wrong.