My Momma is the oldest of five siblings. She is the only normal on in the bunch. I am very blessed to be her daughter. But seriously, she is, the siblings have all joked that she was switched at birth or something! She is the only one to have gone to college, and have gone on to really make something of herself. She became a nurse and worked until my second or third brother came around. Her siblings didn't really live close by so I never felt very connect with most of them. It was a bummer, but they were never there, so there was nothing for me to miss.
In fact, until 2007, I had only met Momma's sisters. One lives in the area, the other came to visit with her daughters ONCE years ago. In 2007 Southern Brother got married, and I got to meet Uncle G. He was sarcastic, weird, and had never met me. Needless to say, I made him be my friend. I'm very obnoxious and persistent and it amused him. The best way to describe him is...well...he looks like a pirate! Fat and hairy. Well, we stayed with him and grandmother for a few days before Southern Brothers wedding, then it was back home. I hadn't seen much of him since then, and apart from a few brief phone calls we had little contact.
Then everything changed this summer. Uncle G went in for surgery on what we all thought was just a hernia. Here the details get a little fuzzy, lots was going on all at once. Turns out however, that it was NOT a simple hernia. They found out he had pancreatic cancer, the very same cancer that killed my grandfather (his father) in just a few months. The survival rate is dismal, but we had a ray of hope, a surgery that could possibly remove the tumor. It was small, but I clung so tightly to it. It was the first day of classes at Uni X and I recall right were I was at the kitchen table when the call from Southern Brother came in. The surgeon was so sorry, but the cancer was too far progressed, they removed a small bit and closed him back up.
When you get a diagnosis, its bad. When the surgeon gives you months....its worse.
Lots has happened since then, but he is still alive. He decided to have radiation, not that it will do much more then make him sicker. He is mostly in denial, and he lashes out at my mother. Did I mention she went to college and became a nurse? You better believe my Momma's a smartie.
All this has made for a very stressful few months. It was the worst way to start a semester, and it really effected my studies. My grades will be pretty dismal, but I'll survive. Now, this all sucks, but hang on kids, we're not done yet.
My one aunt who live in the area, Aunt A, has been sick since the beginning of December. She asked Mom what to do, went to the doctors, but just couldn't shake the pneumonia that had settled in her lungs. December eighteenth, my first day of vacation, I was woken up by Momma telling me we were going to the hospital. In my half-asleep state I thanked her, but told her I was fine so we didn't have to go. No, she replied, it was for Aunt A, she had gone to the hospital last night. That's one way to wake a person up, belive me.
Over the course of her six day hospital say, the doctors removed over ten liters of fluids from her lungs, gave her a CAT scan, put in a chest tube, and was just today diagnosed her with cancer. You read that right. Two of my Momma's younger siblings have cancer. Now, for my aunt we all saw this coming. She's smoked for thirty years often three packs a day, we always knew it was going to be cancer that gets her in the end. So she has lung cancer, but there are also spots on her colon, intestines, breast, and ovaries. The lesson here kids is: DON'T FREAKING SMOKE! If you do now smoke, I beg you, you need to STOP. You life isn't worth being puffed away! find some reason worth quitting for! Even if it is just to explain to me until I understand the finale of Lost or the meaning of Inception!
Sigh. So I went from a stressful semester to a horrible holiday season. My whole family needs your prayers. I need your prayers. I'm exhausted. Physically, emotionally, mentally. I'm going to lose two of my favorite relatives probably by this time next year. Aunt A will be telling her three children (ages 22-16) in the next day or so.
There was so much more I wanted to say and I could have said all of this so much better, but this will have to do. I used to think 'Wow, God sure has blessed me, I haven't had many trials to endure!' Now I think 'Wow, God sure has blessed me with His ever-present love, a loving support system of friends, and the knowledge that He is here with me and He will get me through all this'.
The 23rd Psalm
The Lord is my sheperd, I shall not be in want
He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters
He restores my soul
He guides me in paths of righeousness for His names sake
Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death, I will fear no evil
For You are with me
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies
You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows
Surely Goodness and Love will follow me, all the days of my life
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever
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