Please Don't Put It Off

My heart is sad today. A friend of my husband just passed away. They rode their Harleys together and were looking forward to doing so again this summer. Unfortunately he ignored the signs his body was telling him until it was too late. He was diagnosed in January and passed away March 10.

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One of my very good friends will be having surgery on Friday. We raised our boys together. Theirs are adopted. I was with her when she got the call that they had a baby boy to be picked up the next day. It's a day I'll never forget. The joy as she began yelling, "It's a boy. It's a boy. It's a boy." I kept my boys and her older son while she went to find her husband on the golf course. I helped buy the needed baby items at Walmart and took my crib over for the baby to sleep in while they went and got him. He will be 23 this summer.

Now she has ovarian cancer. She also ignored the signs. She doesn't like going to the doctor or taking any kind of medicine. She hadn't gone for seven years. It tears my heart to think I may lose this, one of my best friends, just as she has retired. There is the surgery and chemo ahead. Not the way I hoped we would spend her now freer time. I'll be with her husband and sons Friday at the hospital. Praying.

I'm also praying that this post has an impact on you, the reader. I want you to not ignore what your body is telling you. Get that mammogram, that pap smear, that (yuck) colonoscopy. The discomfort is nothing compared to what you and your loved ones will go through if you put it off.

My mother had breast cancer which went to the bones. She died at age 71. Way too young. When my sister called to say she'd been diagnosed I called and got an appointment with my doctor. I was already getting mammos every year but my doctor and I decided to go one step further. I had a PET scan. If I did have cancer it would be caught at an early stage. Fortunately, I was clean. My sister is now going on six years cancer free after her double mastectomy.

Let your story be as happy as mine. Go straight to the doctor. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Do not be one of those who put it off.

Forgive me for such a downer post. As I said before, my heart is sad. My husband's friend left a wife, two children, a daughter-in-law and a grandson along with many friends who grieve for them today. All it takes is not putting off that call for an appointment. Modern medicine can do wonders, but only if you don't put it off.