Travelling A New Road

I've been getting the gears from all sides for failing to blog. Sorry about that, but things in my life have taken an abrupt side road, which may take a serious chunk out of the year for me. On May 2, 2010 I flew to Vancouver for a breast MRI, recommended by Dr. G (first by my friend and "specialty female doctor" Dr. Sandi V.). A suspicious mass was biopsied in Terrace and on July 22 we got the news that it was cancerous. A lumpectomy and lymph node surgery on August 10 removed the small growth but found a slight infiltration of cancerous cells in one of the nodes.
Also, although a clear margin around the cancerous mass was achieved, the width of the margin was not to the oncologist's satisfaction. Think of a fried egg- there wasn't enough egg white taken from around the yolk, so...now I am on my way back to Terrace for a second surgery on September 14. My surgeon, Dr. E feels he can still save my right breast even though taking more from it. (It's worrisome because another friend went through this and her breast collapsed after the follow-up surgery. She now faces breast re-construction. I can't begin to imagine how she feels about this!) Dr. E will also be removing more lymph nodes, this time to check for any more cancer. The samples will be sent to a pathologist and then the results to the surgeon and an oncologist in Kelowna. The oncologist will then tell us the next plan of attack on this surprising twist of fate.
That's the facts. Now for the rest of it.
I do believe everything happens to us for a reason, which I am churning over in my mind as an idea for the next line of books. A series of fictional Chicken Soup For The Soul re-incarnation or "lesson learned and how" books. To help people believe in their purpose, whether they know what it is or not. I believe you make out of life what you put into it but some people stagnate and don't seem motivated to do anything other than survive. Maybe that is all their trip on earth was meant to accomplish this time? If nothing else, this line of thinking sure takes the stress out of worrying that you might not have time left to do what it is you hadn't figured out yet. It also helps your mind set if indeed you are not destined to carry on any further.
I believe I still have a long future ahead of me. But I am not going to bet the farm anymore. Maybe this was a wake-up call for me to get on with what I was supposed to be writing about all along. The past two books were very therapeutic in another way. Now I think it is time to get serious. AFTER I get down this new path. I still have a very long way to go. I have been told I will be getting chemo next followed by radiation treatments. Just something else to write about.
If I have the energy, I will try to keep posting about what having breast cancer is like. I knew absolutely NOTHING about it. So, stay tuned if you want to know more.