It seems unreal to me

I really don't know how to start this post....I'll just dive in....
my life has taken a dramatic change in the last 48 hours. I"ve been in the hospital for 3 days/2 nights after having been suffering of extreme tiredness, adominal pains, severe constipation and what I thought was an over grown hemorroid. Turns out I have rectal cancer with some spreading into my liver. Yeah! OK....now the wait has begun about the treatment. All related paperwork, CT scans and blood tests have been given to the oncologist and I should be hearing from her anytime early next week. Wait. It's hard. But I (we) take it one day at a time. That's all I can do for now until we know more.
Good news...my red blood cell count, although low, is still within the normal range.
I feel strong and a few kilos lighter, which is, of course, a good thing, got lots to spare!

My parents will be coming from Florida next week to support us anyway they can. My dear brother has moved into their house to take care of things there while they are gone. I'm on sick leave until further notice, thankfully my colleagues are right there to take over.

From this recent experience I've learned that I should always keep a "crafty" bag ready to take with me for the long waits at the hospital and an iPod full of books on tape and cool tunes. Unfortunately, I couldn't concentrate on reading...don't know if this is related to the illness but I haven't been able to finish a book in several months. (I was even contemplating quitting my beloved Bookworms group, but I won't, I love those worms too much and miss them!) An embrodiery project will be a creative release during my next adventures in the hospital....wished I had had something with me during the hospital stay. My roomate there was a wonderful woman, 89 years old. She was a knitter! Sharing each other's stories about life, crafts, travels and family really made the time pass faster! And I got to practice my Swedish until late at night with some tears but mostly laughter with her!

I received a few great things before going away that I didn't have a chance to...

Thank you

to Karen in Australia for the fat quarter & Billibong fabric! and Valerie, Vicki and Holly for the post cards...I will post photos later when I have more energy. Also, thanks to Mary Beth for the Girl Scout cookies! (geez...I'll think twice before ordering again...the postage was incredible, eh?)

To all my blogger friends, I'm sorry, but I just haven't had the energy to "visit" all of you these last couple of weeks...and if I did visit, I didn't leave a message, it just seemed too overwhelming to go through the process of leaving a comment...that's how tired I've been!

Listen to your body...it speaks!
Honor what it tells you!