I went to visit with my hairdresser yesterday. When I walked out I wasn't sure if I should scream or cry. I did a little bit of both.

When I spoke with her a couple weeks ago she simply told me that she had breast cancer. It wasn't until my appointment that I got the full story.

This gal was traveling at Christmas time and had a suitcase fall and hit her in the chest. When the bruised feeling didn't go away she went to her doctor for advice. He didn't see anything wrong. She was persistant and finally had a mammogram - the second one in seven months. After a series of tests, she was told that not only did she have breast cancer but that the tumor is entirely too large to be removed. There isn't enough "clean" tissue left around it. She was told to go home and get her affairs in order. Stop here. This single mother of three was told to go home and get her affairs in order. She was told that the doctors had never even seen a tumor as large as hers, let alone treated one. She was told that there was no way that the cancer had not spread to her lymph system. Simply put, she was given no hope.

Fortunately she decided that her life was worth fighting for and found another doctor willing to at least fight with her. She still isn't scheduled for surgery. The doctors still won't give her a percentage chance but at least they are doing something to try to give her a chance. She's undergoing very aggressive chemo in an attempt to shrink the tumor to a more manageable size. By the way, this tumor is currently 8 cm x 8 cm x 9 cm. So far she is tolerating the chemo pretty well and is hopeful that she will be scheduled for surgery sometime this summer. In the meantime, she is working against doctors orders to try to continue providing for her children.

Like I said, I don't know whether I should cry or scream...