PSA

Do you get annual checkups and/or regularly give yourself self exams? No? Me neither. But we should.

No, I don't have cancer. But the twin does. And so does Aunt S. 

Let's start at the beginning. 

Just over six weeks ago Aunt S was diagnosed with cancer. The much simplified version says - She had been feeling pretty run down ever since she had pneumonia late in the winter. She kept feeling like there was something stuck in her throat. But multiple doctors told her not to worry. Finally she'd had enough and when she went back again they scoped her throat and could see a mass attached to her uvula I think. There's so much more to it, I've just blocked it all out, but she was then diagnosed with cancer. Shortly after she had exploratory surgery to see if they could remove it...no dice. She ended up cutting a Sedona vacation short to start treatment early. Five radiation treatments and one chemo treatment per week. 

The twin went home to visit Aunt S over the fourth and while she was there mentioned she had felt a lump. Well you really can't tell someone who has cancer that and expect them to not do anything. So they went to urgent care, who couldn't do anything other than say get a mammogram. But her old doc was on vaca, so she scheduled an appointment with a new doc in Denver for the following week. The week after that she had a biopsy. That was last Tuesday. On Wednesday I got the call. Breast cancer. Stage 2.

She has started a new blog to document her journey - dream-boobs.blogspot.com.

They're both pretty active and healthy. Working out, trying to eat right. No real history of cancer in our family. 

My twin sister has cancer. It doesn't sound real. I'm definitely still in denial and I'm not the one who is sick!

A lot has been going on lately and I've started and stopped several different blogs that are now sitting in my drafts folder. Things that have been happening, things I've had issues with or that are impacting my life. Maybe one day I will go back and post them. But none of that seems relevant now.

There was one post about losing friends, which sucks whenever it happens, but especially sucks when something like this comes up in your life and you feel like you need all the friends you can get.

So now what? Aunt S is in her second week of treatment. She's exhausted all the time and it's hard to eat even with pain meds, but her doctors say the eating thing could get easier by the end of this week.

Twin has five doctors appointments in three days. She's currently living in Denver while I'm in Houston. And I would never push anything on her that she wasn't comfortable with or that she just didn't want to do, but...U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals” survey ranks MD Anderson here in Houston as the nation’s top hospital for cancer care.

This is not my journey. That sounds so stupid. But it's her life to live and decide what's best for her and I need to support that in any way that I can. For both of them. All I can do is be there...and maybe try to make them laugh.

Aunt S lost 11 pounds in the first week or so bc eating was so painful - bikini body here you come I said. Thankfully she did not think it was too soon. Last week when I told twin there were easier ways to get me to send her Veuve flutes (something I had sent Aunt S after her diagnosis), she didn't respond. So prob a little too soon for her. What can I say, there's a learning curve. I've never had two of my closest family members go through this before.