Follow up on The Problem

The problem turned out to be what we suspected, a cancerous tumor a little larger than a fist in my sister in law's chest. The problem has now been nicknamed Dumbmass - as in dumb mass - and the fight started yesterday with the first round of Chemo. There are some positives - within the major suckage factor of having cancer.

• This particular cancer is non hodgkins lymphoma - apparently, if your going to be attacked by a dumbmass, this type is among the more treatable.
• It's stage 1, meaning the cancer looks to still be concentrated at the original site and hasn't spread (bone marrow test pending, but everything else looks good).
• 80% cure rate.
• The swelling that tipped us off to this whole thing should retreat early on in the treatment.
• Really solid support system between her husband, family and friends. It's been impressive to see how the troops rally around something like this.

I've lost close friends to this disease, and this one doesn't feel like those did - I think we'll get it beat. But this is as close to home as it's ever hit. It pisses me off.