Facing Fear (19): The worst that can happen

I can't believe that it's been nearly 20 days since my last post.

I've been doing well. I've been sticking to my revised plan set to lose 1/2 lb a week - and it's worked! This semester has been crazy busy for me. I've been working hard, but staying balanced.

My goal to face 30 fears still stands. It's just taking a little longer than planned. Isn't that typical of any weight-related goal? Everything seems to take a little longer than I want it to. But I'll still get there!

The fear that I'm writing about today happened to a friend of mine. Her husband, who is in his early fifties, was just diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer. He went to the doctor because his fingers had been tingling. The doctor didn't think that it was anything serious, but ran an MRI just to make sure. They found a tumor the size of a golf ball in his parietal lobe. Now they are making decisions on whether to treat or not. Things are complicated by the fact that my friend and her husband live in Hawaii and both of their families are on the mainland (East Coast and West Coast). He won't be able to travel for a specified amount of time after any brain procedures (e.g., biopsies). Their lives completely changed within two weeks.

Fortunately, I've been only peripherally touched by this. I know that many people here on Spark are dealing with similar things and my heart goes out to you.

My first reaction to this event was compassion. I'm pitching in to make things as easy as possible for my friend and her husband over the next few months. My second reaction was extreme gratefulness. I am SO lucky to be healthy, to have a healthy husband, to have a good job, to have my family...... Sometimes tragedies can make us appreciate what we have. There is always something good to appreciate and savor.