Family Stuff

For those of you that know our recent odyssey of my mother-in-law's cancer struggle, she is doing great! She had a surgery today that was quite lengthy. The doc came out and talked to those of us that were in the waiting room.

Aside: Funny moment for the surgeon was calling out her name and an entire section of the waiting room answered back. (I married #8 of her 11 children, lol.) You just had to see the surprise on his face!! Priceless. And only 4 were in town (but there were wives and girlfriends there too.)


So now after months of team sharing her care needs, she will be in the hospital recovering for the next few weeks.

By team sharing, that means we coordinate who is available to take her to the doctor's appointments or pick up medications. We've shared that between several of us all summer. It's been very helpful so that each person could make important business commitments while still handling the immense amount of multiple doctor visits to manage a severe cancer issue for someone we all love.

Team work is one thing I'm going to devote an entire chapter in the book, Insanity Rules. Not so much our story as the points that help everyone with a long term illness and all the demands that makes on a person's life. I've found one of the most helpful things is a team. Other people willing to share the load. It could be a little extra work, like when some other family members drove 3 hours to do yard work for another that has done more than her share over the last few months. She didn't have time to take care of her own yard while she took care of her mom's.

Part of the team work also involves relationship. It takes a lot of communication. But the best part is the chance to share feelings, worries and even updates with each other. The stress seems to lessen because other people can connect immediately to what you are thinking.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that she has made it through the surgery successfully and is now in Intermediate Intensive Care. We're very relieved so far.

For all your prayers, thank you.
Angie