Good news

For the past few weeks, so many of you have been supportive and thoughtful as the Big D was going through all the trauma and have been asking how she is...

First of all, thanks so much for the pages and calls and good wishes. And no matter where you stand on the the "good thoughts = good outcome" debate, we appreciate them all.

Second of all, it all turned out the best it could.

I went back to the states for ten days to help take care of Big D as she went through a mastectomy and the beginnings of reconstruction. It was pretty intense for days. The surgery was pretty brutal and she had a tough time, especially at the beginning.

But the day before I left, the pathology report came back and she's clear. Both lumps were completely removed and hadn't spread, so no further treatment is needed.

She's not completely done yet.

There's still the recuperation from the surgery, which means eventually she will be able to raise her arm again and get unhooked from tubes.

Then the reconstruction has to be completed. But really, knowing that she's dodging the chemo and radiation is the best news in the world.

And D's brave.

She didn't want to do it, but she did.

Big D marched into surgery, to emerge almost eight hours later, stitched and bruised, with a complexion best described as the color of the inside of a potato.

But, on the day I left, she was sitting in her own bed, showered, eyebrowed and slightly sassy.

So, nothing's better than that.