update

sorry for the lag... at first i wasn't much up for posting, and by the time i was, i wasn't sure what to write. i'm afraid i'm still in the last category. i have learned that i will never be a natural blogger since the last thing i want to do when i'm feeling like crap is write about how i feel like crap. i've never been into depressing books or movies, and i guess i feel the same way about blogs. it seems like there is enough sadness in the news and in our daily lives that we don't need to manufacture more reasons to be sad.

that said, i'll give you a summary of the last few months. most of ya'll have heard snippets at various points, so i'll spare you all the minor twists and turns. in early december we thought my mom had gallstones because she had a blockage in her bileduct. she had her gallbladder removed in mid-december, only to learn in january that she didn't have gallstones at all. after some urging by the doctors, my mom decided to go through a second surgery that would remove part of her bile duct along with some nearby digestive tissues. after 7 hours of surgery and a week in the hospital, we were told that there was a tumor in ber bile duct. after weeks of hearing good news (they didn't see anything on the endoscope, ultrasound, mri, ct scan, biopsy...), this was a bit of a blow, and my mom still had more recovering to do just from the surgery. the really good news is that they removed all of the tumor which is rare in cases of bile duct cancer and puts her in a good position for long term recovery. unfortunately, she will still have to undergo chemo and radiation in order to ensure that the cancer doesn't recur.
all this said, my mom is an amazing person who has been incredibly healthy up till now, so i am confident in her ability to heal and recover from this whole ordeal. and i'm now at the point where i can write all this and not feel like bawling, so that's good, too!

anyway, that's the story. my mom will beat this, and i know my family will be stronger and appreciate life even more for having helped her through it. every day this seems less like a bad dream and more like a detour in the road...