Phew

On Friday my family and I went to my mom’s radiation follow-up appointment. She got an MRI, and then we met with the nurse practitioner who specializes in my mom’s type of cancer, glioblastoma.

I was really worried about this appointment. This was day we were going to find out what her brain looks like after the radiation and chemo. This was the day we were going to find out how much more time my mom has.

But after all the worry, we got GREAT news.

Her MRI looked as good as it could possibly be. Which means that there was no visible tumor in her brain. (There are still microscopic tumor cells, but no visible tumor is really good.) The nurse practitoner also said that generally it takes 12 to 16 months for the tumor to grow back enough to be visible on an MRI.

Translation: I will most likely (statistically) have another year with my mom. More than another year with my mom, actually.

Best. News. Ever.

A whole nother year. Another birthday, another Christmas. Enough time to finish our scrapbook, and to make one for my sister. Enough time to watch hours and hours of Gilmore Girls (again). Enough time to just be with my mom, be with my whole family. (Okay, yes, even more time would be even better. But at this point, a year or more feels like greatest and most unexpected gift.)

It feels so freeing, like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Or really from my chest – I can breathe again. It’s the biggest relief to know that I don’t have to rush time with my mom. I feel like I can finally take a breath, and find a better balance between my family in San Jose, my community in Oakland, and my friends everywhere. I’m running a marathon now, not a sprint, and my pace can be so much more sustainable.

And you wanna know what I did to celebrate? I played Just Dance 3 and Fruit Ninja on the Kinect with my friends on Saturday, and went to the beach on Sunday. And my roommate has promised me froyo.

And so I say "phew."