Posted by mair on September 29, 2006, at 17:20:04
That's what she announced to me at the end of yesterday's session. It's difficult news to absorb because she's several years younger than me and in great shape, upbeat and very healthy looking, and I'm not accustomed to worrying about her health.
She sounded pretty positive although she doesn't yet know how serious her case is. At first they just thought she had one site and would treat it with a simple lumpectomy, but an MRI turned up a second mass in the same breast and she didn't yet have biopsy results for that. So when I see her again on Tuesday, she'll either tell me that she's going to miss the next week (for me, 2 sessions) while she has the lumpectomy, or she's going to tell me that her surgery will be more radical and that she'll be out a lot longer.
When she told me she had some bad news, I instantly blurted out "you're leaving," a periodic fear of mine ever since she got divorced a couple of years ago. That seemed like the worst thing she could tell me, but I think this is worse.
As I was leaving she said that she wanted to make sure we had time to process this before she had to miss any sessions. I can think of few things I'd less like to do than talk to her about this - maybe as a friend, but certainly not as a patient. Although I know it's really common, I actually know very few people who've had to fight this disease. On the one hand, that feels like good fortune; on the other hand it means that I mostly only know about the people who haven't survived. I'm not sure what I'm willing to discuss with her.
It's incredibly reassuring to venture back here after a long absence and see so many familiar names.
Mair
poster:mair
thread:690264
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060926/msgs/690264.html