I could not bring myself to tell her that she had cancer. I am not sure why but it was a terrible lapse of judgement. A few weeks after the brace was off we had an appointment with a urologist. They ran a few tests and a nurse came in the exam room and blurted out that Barbara had Kidney Cancer. Barbara was angrier at the nurse for the lack of tact then the fact that she just found out that she had cancer. I told Barbara that I knew and couldn’t find a way to tell her. She said she understood and then said, no big deal I will beat this, my theme song is I Will Survive. We then both held each other so tight and expressed out love for each other. One week later we were back in the hospital to have her left kidney removed. The operation was a complete success and she left the hospital the next morning. Watching the way she dealt with two extremely hard surgeries in a short period of time was an amazing thing to witness. She never once felt sorry for herself. It was like nothing ever happened. She is the strongest most positive person I ever knew. Her strength was unmatched by anyone. The only treatment Barbara ever expressed concern over was Kimmo. When her Oncologist said she would just need radiation a big wait was lifted of her mind. A week later she began her radiation treatment. Almost five years went by and she was so excited that she was 2 months from 5 years without any sign of cancer. Then on the last scans it was back. She was so pissed she thought she had won. So another round of radiation.
A terrible lapse of judgement
