Tuesday, July 31, 2007

The Crazy Lady

I want to be my mom when I grow up. If there was a 12 step program on how to be Carlene, I'd buy it. For those that don't know her, here's Mom:

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And that's Mom's original hair. We haven't seen Mom's original hair since January, when it went on hiatus, but if I can remember I'll try to get a picture of her new, chemo-resistant hair when we visit this weekend. (Ok, so we haven't tested the chemo-resistant part, but let's just take my word for it and not actually test the theory, ok?)

For those who don't know, my dear mother has spent the past 9 months or so showing cancer who's boss and kicking it's butt back to the stone age. If it had just asked I could have told it that it didn't stand a chance. Hey, the woman's been married to my dad for like 40 years, dealing with cancer ain't nothing! (Just kidding, Dad! Love you!) She's been cancer free since May, but goes back to the doc later this month for another PET (no, she's not replacing the cat, she's having the scan) and to have another discussion about radiation therapy to go ahead and kill the thyroid to avoid any possible return. That sounds simple enough, but my understanding is that the radiation could actually be tougher than the chemo at this point, which would suck now that's she's feeling so much better. Whatever she decides to do, I know she'll do it with style. She rocks that way. From the first day she was diagnosed she's said, "Hey, we'll do this God's way and make the best of it." And she did. Sometimes life sucks really really hard, but Mom used it as an excuse to tell everybody who asked that she was going to get through it by means of God's help and no other. So yeah, it was a tough road, but if she managed to get somebody's attention though her positive attitude and constant faith, then I guess we see that God does work through adversity from time to time. And I'll thank Him for every extra day I have with the Crazy Lady.

Anyway, all of that just to say that I know quite a few people who read this have been asking me for updates on her, and I'll let you know what's going on after her next PET.

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