Aunt Cindy
Aunt Cindy has been in my life almost since I was born. She's a close friend of my mother's. When a Nigerian man moved into our community and started calling all the men "uncle", we quickly transitioned into calling everyone aunt and uncle. Hence the 'aunt' in Aunt Cindy. She's just a few blocks away and is very close to the family. When each of us gets married, she's the one who has made us a quilt.
Aunt Cindy was diagnosed with breast cancer 2 days before my mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She's getting an amazing new radialogical treatment twice a day for a week - tomorrow is her last treatment! The differences between her treatment and my mother's are so striking I'm sort of jealous, but so happy for her too. To have them both going through cancer at the same time is bad enough, but having Aunt Cindy (and her husband, Uncle Ev) still be able to come around and support my mother and us is infinitely better.
Aunt Cindy came over to visit with my mother while Nathan and I went to The Gathering Place, a resource center for cancer patients and their families. I'm so glad we went, they were able to tell us a big thing: BACK OFF. Nathan and I, having watched the nurses push our mother to get up, drink, eat, walk, etc., were being a pushy about that at home as well. The woman we talked to at The Gathering Place was able to say, yeah, make sure she's hydrated, other than that, let her sleep, "cocoon", heal and simply get used to how this new body of hers is going to work. It was so reassuring to hear that what she's going through is normal - both us and our mother. And the lady there was finally able to give us a clear idea about how long this period should take - 6 to 8 weeks. Finally. Well, she's 11 days in.