Cancer.

On September 22, a Wednesday night, I got a text from ChoirFriend asking if I had time to talk on the phone. I said sure, and she called. I was walking across my living room when she casually dropped the news that she found a lump that morning in the shower.

My knees gave way, I sat hard on the window seat and just about fell through the picture window.

We didn't freak out. People find lumps all the time that turn out to be harmless cysts. She went to her doctor, then scheduled a mammogram and ultrasound for the following Tuesday.

At the mammogram and ultrasound, we were confronted with the probability of cancer. We spent the next day getting at the Masonic Cancer Center at the U of M, where a tissue biopsy was taken. The initial biopsy results confirmed Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, the most common type of breast cancer. And the cancer was also in the lymph nodes.

Today, Choirfriend and her mom went to get an MRI. The Cancer Center called later in the day with the rest of the test results: Type II, Grade 3, ER-, with two nodes affected. She is Type II out of four because the cancer has spread to her lymph nodes. Types I-III are early-stage breast cancer because cancer has not spread to distant parts of the body. See here for more info. Grade 3 means the cancer is the fastest of the three grades in rate of growth.

My heart is heavy tonight. The thoughts that I had postponed, just in case they were unnecessary, have come to the forefront of my mind. Chemo. Fatigue. Nausea. Losing hair. ChoirFriend and I share the same fears, but in the end, only one of us has to physically endure them. Sometimes I feel guilty about it. Why her, and not me?

Romans 8:28: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Dear Lord, give us the faith and patience to endure for your purpose.



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