Oh no! Not again!

Do you remember this? In a subsequent post, I gave more details and the latest update is that he is going to undergo radiation therapy starting in a few weeks. He had a bit of a hard time (pain due to the nerve that was removed) during K's family reunion during the holidays, but he was fine and we are all optimistic about his prognosis.

Well... what I don't think I shared here was that someone else in the family had undergone a biopsy back in November, but hadn't picked up the results until this week because of the Florida trip and another trip in Brazil that ended last week.

It turns out that my MIL has been diagnosed with a malignant growth in her body as well, just as we feared. Even more than my BIL's, hers is eminently treatable -- literally everyone we talk to say that if a person had to choose a type of cancer, this should be it, because it's contained and can be removed without too much trouble. (What a thing to say, isn't it? But several people have expressed that to me, today alone).

My own mother had her thyroid removed (due to abnormal growth, nothing malignant) several years ago and she explained to me that the biggest problem is figuring out the correct doses for the hormone replacement, so we're hoping everything will be well in the end. We just don't know she's going to deal with the trip to South Africa (by postponing treatment again? I hope not). Well, it's her life, not mine and I don't feel 100% comfortable blogging about this (she's such a private person, after all), but I had to share.

Sigh.