[Lucy]

A friend of mine has gone with me to many of my treatments. A few months ago she went with me when I had to have an echocardiogram during a time where I was having significant issues standing and walking. She watched me struggle to get into her car and into (and out of) a cart at the hospital. She was listening when I had a conversation with a woman who had traveled from out of state for tests. The woman had been diagnosd with stage II cancer. They'd tried a couple of chemo options, none of which were helping - the tumor was still growing. Her son is disabled and has had a couple of surgeries already this year. She doesn't get paid time off for treatments or sickness and she'd already used up all her vacation time so if she didn't work, she wasn't getting paid. She was driving home to another state after she got the results from her tests and going to work the next day because she couldn't afford not to. So when I was checking in at the breast center for my doctor's appointment my friend was asked if she could be helped and my friend snapped back with a NO! because she was thinking at the moment how grateful she was she wasn't having to go through what any of the people we'd met / talked to at the hospital and it came out more harsh than she meant it to. I kind of view my situation the same way in that, while I was diagnosed with a pretty bad ass cancer, my prognosis is good. While I had significant side effects from the treatment, it was a blip on the screen of my life and is essentially done (with the exception of a few more months of herceptin and possibly a pill . . . but that's another story). I'm grateful that my situation isn't any worse than it is. I can't think of anyone in my life that can challenge my year (and think theirs was crappier) but I still consider myself pretty darned lucky, And I'm grateful for that.