Good News vs. Bad News

Me & my youngest on her 11th b-day.
Ignore the no make-up. I was doing
school pickup. :)

Happy New Year!

Yeah, I know, I'm a little late on the uptake here. This is the first week in a long time where I can actually sit at my laptop, take a deep breath, and write. My mind clears and the ideas run rampant. My fingers fly across the keyboard and before I know it there's a new chapter in front of me. I love it! Giddiness takes over after a good day of writing.

So let's get to a little Good News vs. Bad News here.  I'll just bullet point it all for you.


BAD NEWS:

• Some piece of trash hacked my bank account last week. They stole $380 from Charlotte, NC. I haven't been to Charlotte in nearly 10 years!! 
• My winter blues have kicked in and I feel extremely dreary all the freaking time (except when I've had a good writing day).
• My mom is still going through chemo. I'm in charge of her calendar & taking her to 98% of her appointments... some of which were sprung on me the day before.
• BOTH of my younger daughters are going into braces! The 15 yr old will get hers the end of February/beginning of March. And my 11 yr old will go into hers this time next year. 8 months of double braces payments. UGH!
• I will not be attending Book 'Em NC this year. With everything going on around here I just don't feel comfortable being that far away from home.
• I turned 39 on the 17th.  ACK!!!  Nooooo!!

GOOD NEWS:

• My bank reversed all the $380 that piece of trash stole from my bank account. Get a job, douchebag!
• Exercise, vitamins, & writing help me with the winter blues. And spring will be here soon!
• My mom's cancer has shown great results from the chemo!! We found out last week that all the small cancer spots are gone & the big stuff has shrunk dramatically. The doctor is hoping the next 4 rounds of chemo will get it all. And then maybe we can say the R-word!!
• Braces... Upside of braces... Hmmm...  Oh, I guess it's good I'll only have double payments for 8 months.  ???  Maybe?
• There's really no good news for not attending Book 'Em.  :(
• I turned 39, but I don't feel 39. Physically, I feel great!

Overall, that's about it right now. I'm anticipating more writing this year since my mom is moving into my rental house right down the hill from my house. I'll be able to keep an eye on her easier and still get my work done.  Hell, I drive by my rental, at the very least, 4 times a day just taking kids to and from school.  I'll be glad to have her close by AND be able to work, again. 

I hope 2016 turns out to be a great year for all of you.

Bad News on the Homefront

Last week my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer that has spread to her liver. It was a devastating blow to all of us. She has been a smoker for 40 years now, so it wasn't a surprise that we would be dealing with this sort of situation at some point in the future, but I certainly wasn't expecting it right now.

She went to her GP last Monday because we thought she'd picked up a bug or had a nasty sinus thing going on. He threw antibiotics at her and scheduled her for a CT scan on Wednesday. By Wednesday she was so sick, weak, and dehydrated I had to take her for the scan. Later that night, after my sister & I discussed it, my sister took her to the hospital. They admitted her right away and started pushing I.V. fluids. Thursday the doctors wanted to see Mom's CT scan results to verify what they thought they had seen on a chest x-ray.

There is a mass in her right lung about the size of a golf ball and a couple of spots on her liver.

Friday morning she had a biopsy of the lung mass and then she went home Friday evening. Even though the doctors said it is cancer, they are waiting on the biopsy results to verify it is cancer. That result should be back today. By the end of this week we *should* know what KIND of cancer it is, and thus, what kind of treatment plan will be initiated.

Tomorrow, Mom is scheduled for a PET scan. This scan will tell us if there are more cancer spots anywhere else on her body. The oncologist seems to have a plan in place for her, and she's feeling pretty optimistic, so hopefully together they can beat this.