C Jay!!!!!!  Hurry, hurry!  Look at the chart. They changed it. It actually makes sense now!!! Thank you, wowowow!!!

[PS I’ll live without the colors - I’m much rather have accurate data.]

EKA …  During the initial seige of so many years mixing with cancer patients during the many therapy sessions, I found it like learning on the job.  We as women must be responsible for our own health, our own bodies, and when we sense something is not right any longer with us, we must move quickly.  It is better to move on a false alarm than to wait too long. 

In my 10 days in the oncology ward of Northwestern Hospital after my own surgery, I felt well enough to roam the halls, talking to patients, but mostly their caregivers in the hallways.  Most of the saddest cases — the young women that were not going to survive suffering from cancers we normally are not familiar with, had stayed too long with their small town doctors.  When it became beyond the scope of these doctors, they were sent on.  But it was beyond the scope from the very beginning and yet they weren’t sent to the top until it was now palliative care - and death.  They were generally under 40 … and the cancers were not caught in time and/or the people were so loyal to the locals that they didn’t know there was a much higher step they could take that might assure a better result. 

We learn by each experience.  I made the most of my two, asking questions, and most of all learning.  When a person finds out he or she has cancer, they usually become emotional and can no longer think what should be the next step.  Understandable.  They need guidance but often are in kindergarten on cancer subjects.  The National Institute of Health cancer section saved my life - truly.  A free call, lots of personal caring, and direction to the doctors close by that specialized in MY cancer only.  . and I was guided like a blind man might be through the steps.  Their straight-forward informational literature on the subject arrived by fast mail - the contents an education in itself so that I could ask good questions when I saw the specialist. 

I learned the ropes so to speak, and I have gotten so many others on the right track, being there to listen more than talk at any hour - for that is what a friend does.  The news of cancer can leave you flat.  There have been plusses long range for me though as I can be a steady arm to others who have more confidence because "I have been there".  Nothing pleases me more.