It absolutely sucks, Amy, and my slight brush with it confirms that. My mother was a gold medalist of cancer survivors. Starting at age 60, she had four kinds of cancer: uterine, breast, melanoma, and the colon cancer that finally killed her at 84. In those days (before breast cancer awareness and its Barbie pink whoop die do) people were more likely to be respectfully sympathetic. Most of the people they’d known who got cancer didn’t beat it.

The odds are better today but some people are cancer sponges and will get it again. My grandmother had breast cancer in her fifties and died at 94 of pancreatic cancer with an active case of melanoma. Despite all that, I’d rather take after that side of the family. My Dad’s people tend towards Alzheimer’s. Lucky me! Thanks for sharing your experience.