Good News, Bad News
Posted on 2006-03-01
I received two pieces of news yesterday; one should have made me happy and excited, which it did for a few hours, and then I received the second piece of news that has left me feeling as though my world has been turned upside down.
Firstly, here�s the good news.
Some of you might remember that back in January I shared with you the wonderful news that my cousin is pregnant and has asked me to be her baby�s Godmother.
Well, yesterday my other cousin phoned to tell me that she had just learned that she is also pregnant, and that her baby is due 2 months after her sister�s. I was over the moon to receive such good news, as I�m sure you can imagine!
But it was short lived.
Six or so hours after speaking to my cousin I received another phone call, this time from her Dad, my Uncle. Apparently he�s not been feeling too well for a couple of months now, but at the time he asked my Aunt to keep things between themselves until he had something concrete he could tell the rest of the family; he didn�t want anyone worrying unnecessarily, especially with one of his daughter�s being in the early stages of her pregnancy.
Anyway, yesterday morning he had an appointment at the hospital to discuss the results of some tests he had carried out in January. I doubt the news could be any worse; he�s been diagnosed with cancer, and the prognosis isn�t good!
I know to some people finding out your Uncle has cancer might not be as bad as finding out that�s it�s one of your parents that�s unwell. But I�ve never really known my father, I�ve seen him just a handful of times since I was a toddler and have had no contact with him at all for nearly 10 years now, so ever since I was little my Uncle has been like a surrogate father to me in my mind and heart.
And of course, as it�s my Mum�s brother she�s just gone to pieces. All yesterday evening I tried to be strong for her, gave her plenty of hugs and told her that my Uncle�s a fighter and that he�ll pull through this etc, but now she�s in bed the enormity of it all has just hit me like a sledgehammer and I can�t stop crying. I don�t mean to sound melodramatic, but I think I might be in shock or something.
As I mentioned a moment ago, I�ve never really known my father and I don�t know any of my relatives on my father�s side of the family, so what little family I do have mean the world to me!
And I�m scared and worried, not only for him, but for my each of my cousins too; I can�t imagine how they must be feeling at the moment. With both of them being pregnant as well, I can�t help but wonder what toll this terrible news is going to take and what effect, if any, it will have on their babies.
I just feel so helpless, worried, sad, scared, and a million other things I can�t find the words to describe.