The Not So Happy Post
2004-01-08||xx||4:35 p.m.
So here I am with a rather upsy downsy type of post. Two good things have occurred, one, being asked to feast-o-crat the upcoming Lissonaer event in April, which i am happy to do, and two, being asked to teach a "Cooking for the Medieval Camper" workshop at upcoming GE6, which again, I am happy to do. These are happy things for me, things that allow me to think and focus on something other than what is going on in the rest of my life.
I have spoken before about how cancer affects me, even as it affects those around me, and perhaps you may remember me having made mention of one of my friends being stricken with the disease. Well, now my brother, my eldest brother Donnie, has also been diagnosed with cancer, and the prognosis is not good.
According to the doctors he has had this tumor, which is on his lung, of a size of about 2 centimeters, for roughly ten years now. It is in stage one or two, and can be addressed by a combination of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. The problem is the surgery requires the removal of a lung, and the survival chance is 80% for one year, then 50% for any years afterwards. My brother asked what if he didn't get surgery, and the answer was he would be dead within a year.
*deep breath*
I am... amazingly calm about this whole thing. My sister, of course, is stressing, but I am stonewalling, and becoming a rock again. Kind of like when my mom passed away. None of you who read this knew me then, not even Mike, whom Autumn no doubt reads for, but when things like this happen, I internalize like no one's business. I think I can deal with this though, and no doubt, everyone will hear it if I can't.
No doubt.
Jon