Cancer. No one can prepare you for that word. My mother-in-law just called while I was blithely making dinner. I chatted her ear off about Ethan's mild illness. I just went on and on. Then, she asked me if I had read my e-mail lately. No, I hadn't. She was on her way home from a pelvic scan. The had had a D&C due to some post-menopausal bleeding. All polyps benign, but there were some pre-cancerous cells and some mature, cancerous cells. She was just making jokes about growing polyps like zucchini.

My husband was home, upstairs getting ready to go paint for a little old lady. Another of my great-aunts to be exact, but not Aline, the sick one. I paused on the phone with Rhoda. That is my MIL's name, Rhoda. Was I supposed to tell her son that his mother had cancer? No. No, I won't do that. He will have a 1,000 coldly, logical questions that I won't be able to answer. Rhoda, had better tell him. And she did.

Now..... There are only a few cells that we know of. The pelvic scan will tell us more. Then there is they hysterectomy on August 10th. Then..... Treatment options discussed.

Andy, my strong husband. Quiet. Didn't have a thing to say during dinner. I am surprised we even ate. Rhoda is such a woman of faith. She is not even afraid or even phased, really. Kind of strange, although I know that the reality will set in sooner rather than later. So, now, he is off painting for a little old lady.

I feel kind of strange. So, don't mind me. Just a little shocked. This lady was my high school Spanish teacher. She wrote me letters when I was in China, teaching English. We have loved and fought with each other for 10 years.