About a week after I left mom and returned to Nashville, she sent me these words in an email:
“I guess if I was wringing my hands and crying about it they’d think I was okay…I was upset when I first got the news that the biopsy came back showing cancer, but after I got home that day and was able to think and pray about it, I accepted my powerlessness over the situation and just asked for courage to face whatever it was. And I was given that. When I told my sister that I had to have the biopsy, she started right in with the tears and the ‘what if’ game. I told her, ‘It is what it is and it’s out of my control, so I’m not going to worry myself sick about something I can’t do anything about.’ I know that no matter what happens to me or around me, I’m going to be okay because God loves me and will take care of me. I still feel that way, and I just don’t understand why those who have voiced their opinions think I’m supposed to be devastated by this.
“A friend I’ve known for 23 years came by yesterday and said she couldn’t believe how well I was handling losing a breast. I told her, ‘I didn’t lose it. It didn’t just happen to fall off and then I couldn’t find it. I know what happened to it. The surgeon removed it because I told him to remove it in order to get rid of the cancerous tissue. I don’t think of it as losing something but rather think of it as gaining more time to spend with my kids and grandkids.’
“Also, next year when I go for my mammogram again, I should get it for half price since they’ll only be smashing one next time.”
Have I mentioned why I love my mom so much? She has the best attitude of anyone I’ve ever known.
When I hauled mom down to an “old lady” gym in her town to check it out and see if it would help her get into shape, she put up a bit of a fight. But I didn’t have to drag her through the doorway; she followed gamely, even joking around with the girls that worked there. It’s a gym for women only, with range of motion machines specifically suited for older women and women with health limitations. After asking all the right questions and going through the paperwork, I paid for mom’s membership.
