Old Age Day by Day August 9, 2013

I saw that my older daughter tried to call me yesterday afternoon when I was gone, so I tried returning the call when I returned.  I thought she was letting me talk to my granddaughter before she was off for two weeks with her daddy and his family.  When she called again last night, it was to say she'd had a biopsy and was diagnosed with breast cancer.  I was stunned.  She's young, there is no history in the family, she's the picture of health.  And the coincidence of my supporting my friend through her cancer seemed strange.  I know my daughter will be fine, but as with my friend, only much more powerfully, I feel the agony of such a diagnosis, the uncertainty, the discomfort, and long months ahead.  I saw all this with my own mother, her suffering papable, though neither of her cancers resurfaced or caused her death many years later.  I would spare my daughter this anxiety, if I could.  She's too young, with a young daughter, and a brand new husband.  Today she learns from the surgeon what the plan is, and her treatment will begin.  I've offered to come up, but with her daughter away, she probably feels better with her husband and friends.  I'm available, as is my husband, when we are needed.  In the meantime, I'm praying that the surgery goes smoothly, the treatments kindly, and the experience of the next six months or so goes past as painlessly as possible.