2008 Happy New year, Kids, Cancer Pluera Pulmonary Blastoma

We had a great time last night going out with our Friends Who I will call the "SMITH" family.
We went out last year with them and three years ago, we had our "small group" New Years Eve party. So..we have a history.
We have kids about the same age, and now, our kids are old enough that a MIRACLE has occurred! WE NO LONGER GET A BABYSITTER! Of Course we leave them food, phones and video games, movies and chips and pop, Guitar Hero and Chocolate Cookies, Chip Dip and FIREWORKS. We told them they had to wait till we got back for the fireworks, because we are responsible parents like that.
This year has drastically changed all of us. I lost my job, was in the hospital, spoke a funeral, helped another woman do something I never thought I would do, swam a lot, drank a lot, cooked a lot, parented a lot.
Our kids love each other. Two of our kids got sick together recently. Mine, with the 6 week battle of pneumonia. Their Jake, had pneumonia at the same time. Neither of them were getting better, Jake was hospitalized. After the local hospital could do nothing for him, they sent him to THE BIG CITY for more treatment. They decided to try and drain some of the fluid that was on his lung.
It wasn't pneumonia.
I've had to wait weeks to even write about this as it is very fresh, and I guess I needed time to let it sink in. Jake has Cancer. Jake is nine years old. They removed a growth bigger than a grapefruit from under his lung. The Cancer if very Rare, PLEURA PULMONARY BLASTOMA. It has only been studied since 1988.
When My little one heard me talking about the cancer, she had to ask, "Now mom...is it ME or JAKE that has Cancer"? We had them over last week, and my middle kid, not quite understanding, but willing to do whatever it took to help Jake, asked...:"Is the cancer contagious?". It broke my heart.
We went out to eat, and drink some adult beverages, not nearly as many as last year and got back home as we all wanted to watch the "Ball" drop with the kids.
We had a circle of prayer that was very touching. Jake prayed about his cancer, about losing his hair, his mom prayed for Jake to be the Greatest example to the Doctor's and medical world and my middle one, Prayed..that "this year would begin with tears, and we would go out with Joy"...and quoted Pastor Chad's sermon Sunday.
This year will change all of us, it already has.
My Mom Helen 77, is in the hospital. I took her to ER on Sunday after church as she couldn't walk, couldn't get her shoes on, and was in so much pain she wanted to die. They gave her antibiotics and were going to send her home. I said, "I'm not taking her home". The ER doc looked at me like I was NUTS, and I explained that they had NOT determined WHY her feet were so bad, and I was NOT comfortable taking her home until a CAUSE was determined. They Finally got her admitted, did blood tests and they think she had GOUT, CELULITIS and something else. She is on 17 prescriptions for heart, blood pressure, depression etc.
Her word of wisdom was, as she was laying in bed, thinking about things, "I can't Believe I am as old as I am. I don't think I should be. There are lots of thing I want to do, places I want to go, and lots more men to fuck.".
From your mouth to God's ear mom.