I shared the news of my cancer diagnosis with my brothers and sisters, and my closest friend, Beth. That was tough. She had just lost her very best friend, Betty Jones, to cancer and the pain was still raw.
Beth has a huge sisterhood of friends and since I didn’t want to make any announcements before surgery, I asked to please keep the news to herself. She agreed.
My children, daughter-in-law, and brothers and sisters joined me on the morning of my surgery. We were quite the crowd and I was so thankful to have them all there. I had the easy part of this deal. All I had to do was take a cocktail and go nighty-night while they had to endure the wait.
I woke up as I was being wheeled out of the recovery room. I looked at the sign next to the elevator. W4ICU it read. I slipped my hand across my belly. I felt a long padded bandage that ran the entire length of my abdomen. And I knew.