Aunt Kathy's Fight

For those of you following my Aunt Kathy's Fight down in Dallas, we have some good news to report. Her surgery and reconstruction took place on Wednesday, and I am happy to report that she is resting comfortably in her hospital room. She had a rough first night after surgery while they tried to get the dosages right on the pain medications, but got great news today from pathology that based on the surrounding tissue that they removed, she was CANCER FREE! She was so happy she was in tears this morning as she spoke to my Mom. Now as she feels that she has a reason to start to feel better and start the healing process. This was great encouragement to my Mom, as she will soon be going through the same procedure. I cannot even to begin to fathom the amount of pain she must have been in. The surgery took nearly seven hours, during which she was under the entire time. She is an extremely strong woman, and to quote Lou Gehrig, "I may have been given a tough break, but I've got an awful lot to live for." She truly does have a lot to live for.

I know her husband, my Uncle Al, is ready to have her home and feeling better. Nothing can ever prepare you to have something like cancer affect a family member, let alone your spouse. My cousin, Beth Ann, who graduates from Texas State in May, is very eager to spend more time with her mom now that they have this episode behind them. Blake, my other cousin, his wife Lisa, and their little boy Tyler, also look forward to Aunt Kathy's recovery as they prepare for the birth of her new grandchild at the end of March. It would be a mistake not to mention her three "Little Boys" waiting for her at home to recover. Dallas (the Doberman, and original "Little Boy"), Pele (her first Greyhound), and Combo (the newest Greyhound addition) cannot wait for her to get home to pet them and throw the tennis ball in the back yard.

Aunt Kathy, everyone is so happy that you are feeling better and have put this chapter of your life behind you. To paraphrase something a friend once told me about losing his father, "I have realized that this is probably the worst thing that is ever going to happen to me in life. That said, and moving forward, everything else has to be better." Life is all about putting things into perspective. Without the bad times in life, the good times would never seem so sweet. Aunt Kathy, you have a lot of good times to look forward to now.