A Strong Woman

By M. Rainwater

Yes! She fights back and did come back stronger. She is on a mission and it's not over yet!

Who is she? She is our only surviving parent and only surviving grandparent to our three children.

At first, she let us know, but didn't want to worry us. She kept most things to herself and tried her best to do it all on her own. We are almost a two hour drive away. She knew we were battling our own demons as she was fighting an enemy that so many know firsthand or at least very closely due to a family member or close friend that also knows this modern day enemy.

This enemy can be a small spot that soon branches out into many and can spread just as quickly or even more swiftly than a wildfire. The Enemy, cancer. Multiple surgeries and chemotherapy over a series of weeks to months two different times. Poisoning the enemy to cure, but at the same time that poison is just as caustic to what it is supposed to be healing. After making it through the poisons, the waiting to see if it had some, little, or hopefully much success. Next, will side effects of poisons be lifelong or simply short term? Thankful, when eyebrows and hair return, to once again feel human again.

Just when you think you can start to get back to normal life and not just trying to survive. The dread when you discover another growth and now a third time to fight and fight she does and is again. More surgery, but only after starting a clinical trial of an immunotherapy. A few of these treatments every couple of weeks. The "treatments" leave her tired and with a weakened immune system just like the chemotherapy, but it isn't quite as harsh. Just when she feels like she is recovering, it is once again time for "treatment."

PET scan yesterday. PET scan results in a morning appointment today. Praying for a clear scan and healing. Prayers for all out there fighting the enemy.