One year ago

This is the date of my Mom's 1 year anniversary of having the doctor tell her he thought she had breast cancer. One year ago today I felt like a ton of bricks hit me and I went into total panic mode. My Mom didn't deserve this, right there along with all of the rest of the people that get cancer. All I knew was that I had to try my best to make this easier for her and my Dad while trying to stay sane myself.

My Mom is so very stubborn! That's where I get it from, by the way. I come from a long line of stubborn women. She fought me and my Dad about how she did not want to have treatment because she didn't want to have to go through all of that. We pressed and pressed. Now that I watched someone go through chemo and the sickness that she went through, I don't think I would have been that pushy if I had known. I'm glad I didn't know what the heck I was talking about at the time.

After we got her to get rid of her hair, put the port in and get used to the idea, she was quite a little trooper. I've seen my Mom sick before, but never like this. There were several times that I didn't know how she kept doing it. I was hoping that she wouldn't give up.

Over the year, there were a lot of bad times. Bad only because when this is happening to somebody that you love, you feel hopeless. You can worry, pray, cry, get mad only so much and then you just have to hope that it's all worthwhile.

My Dad was a super trooper during this whole thing. I love that he stood by my Mom as strongly as he did. I know he got on her nerves sometimes, we all probably did, but he took over and gave a shining example of true love.

My Mom turned into my hero during this whole process. She always has been a hero of mine, but when you see somebody basically going as low as you can go and struggling so hard because you and others have told that person that you can't imagine life without them, you all of a sudden get a sharper picture of how amazing this person (my Mom) is.

So, one year later and she is still here with us. We've got a good prognosis so far. The lump is gone, she is getting her strength back, she's starting to smile and laugh again. There's even a pretty good crop of hair coming in now.

I hope that one day if I have to face a horrible illness that I can do it with as much strength and grace as she did. The video that I made is a tribute to her. It includes some of the good and bad times we all went through this last year.

Mom- I love you. You're a beautiful, strong, intelligent woman and I hope that I can be even half as good of a mother and grandmother as you are.