See you for the 37th

8/8/08 was not only the opening day of the Beijing Olympics. It was the one year anniversary of Mom's brain surgery - a concept we once considered the most nightmarish and unimaginable diagnoses/experience one could imagine. Mom endured that experience one year from August 8^th, and she was transformed from that day forward. Where most scoot through after 2 or 3 days in the hospital, she was discharged nearly a month later after overcoming enormous complications. Where most receive rounds of radiation and chemo before recurrence, she received one month of treatment before discovering the tumor had returned. Where most would find success with their first round of the experimental drug Avastin, she saw progression after a few short months - an extremely rare occurrence according to the leaders in the field, the Duke team. These odds surely should have taken her life far before it did. But, she was a fighter -- a standout to the Duke team for her strength and grit. Courageously, "Proud Mary" blazed through, flipping the proverbial bird to cancer; standing on her feet up until the last two months of her 11-month long battle; hell bent and determined to live and see the 37^th.

 

8/7/08 was Mom and Dad's 37^th anniversary. I vividly remember her shuffling her slippers as she gathered her card. She extended her anniversary gift to Dad. It read, "See you for the 37^th."

 

I suppose she did in a way - through the eyes of her children. Dad spent his anniversary with the product of their love.

 

I miss you mom.

 

~E