Bring to a boil, insert words, let simmer for a week

Sometimes things come along and you write them up right away. You're surfing around, you see something interesting or watch a funny clip, and you post it right away.

Sometimes, you want to write about something, but you can't quite figure out how to write about it. You've got an idea of what to say, but no idea how to put the words down on paper or on screen.

It took me until today to finally figure out which way to write the post. I'm not sure why, but I guess it finally clicked.

I finally spoke with my sister last week, and got the full update about how her battle with IBC was progressing. She was diagnosed in early October as a high Stage 3 case of inflammatory breast cancer, and was starting treatment as Stage 4.

(Note: IBC is not the type where you find a lump. It starts as a bruise and spreads rapidly. In my sister's case, it took eight months to go from non-existent to essentially Stage 4.)

Anyway, I finally spoke at length with her last week and got filled in on the last few months. She seems to be responding to her treatment very well, almost in a model way. They caught it before it got to the lymph nodes, mostly because my sister is even more stubborn than me and pushed everything through as quickly as she could. Once they picked up what it was, things moved rapidly. Diagnosis to the beginning of chemo was less than three weeks, I think.

She's now gone through four chemo treatments, and sounds like she's doing very well (all things considered). Some of the things that would make other people faint or cringe seem to be taken well in stride - fatigue, energy, etc. She keeps a journal online as well, so we can all follow her progress along with her and not ask her the same fifty questions over and over.

Apparently, the Francis clan is becoming quite resilient to cancer, which is definitely a good thing. I found out a couple years ago that an uncle and grandfather on my mother's side (who I hadn't spoken to in years) died accordingly of prostate and colorectal cancer.

This afternoon, I got a bit of a surprise. I was speaking with my father, as I was filling him in on my sister's condition, and found out something that I had not known before.

In 1996, I spent the whole Spring term seemingly shuttling back and forth between Atlanta and New York because he was gravely ill. Damn near died, mostly from drinking too damn much. He was in the hospital for a while, and after two months in Beth Israel, Cabrini, and a hospice, he moved to Arizona. He was diagnosed with a bunch of problems - severe lung damage, liver damage, and what I thought was a polyp in his colon.

Well, I found out today I was wrong on that last point. Not a polyp. Nope, he had stage 1 colon cancer, and had a decent-sized tumor removed. Obviously, it didn't spread to lymph nodes or grow through the walls, but definitely more serious than a polyp or ademona. That's fine now, though at 70 he's got enough other health problems to worry about anyway.

Had enough terminology yet? Good. Me too.

I had though I would just drop dead of a heart attack some day from too much food and too much fun. Turns out it'll probably be some form of cancer one day.

Anyway, in the meantime, I'm sort of wondering what to do, if there really is anything to do. I can't just freak out, but I can't ignore that cancer has gone from non-existent to prevalent on both sides of my family tree. I've cut out most behaviors that would be risky, but beside that I've been at a loss as to what I can do aside from that.

I had been kicking around an idea for a few weeks, but hadn't given much more expanded though to it. I'd been thinking a little about participating in a Relay for Life or 3-Day event, and now I'm thinking more strongly about it. Besides, it would ensure I try to shed some pounds from my 240-lb frame.

So, to sum up: Sister is doing well, beating back every challenge so far with IBC. Found out cancer is more prevalent in my family than I thought. Trying to maintain a balance between concern about family history and FREAKING OUT.

I feel like I'm missing a decent ending for this post. Maybe I should have let it simmer a little more.