Yeah, I disappear for a while and when I finally come back it's with bad news. At least, it's bad news for my family. Part of the reason I haven't been around is that I have an aunt cancer. I've been trying to help out my cousin, her daughter (who has enough stress as it is), and haven't had much time for blogging. The cancer was on her spine, attached to some nerves and somehow or other the doctors didn't catch it until recently; odd, considering how much weight she was losing. And when they weren't finding what was causing her pain and issues with her legs, one would have thought that they might have suspected cancer. I don't know how they missed it, honestly, considering the size of the tumor.

She had surgery not long back to remove the mass. They couldn't get all of it, but were waiting to see if it was benign or malignant before they decided on a further course of action. It was malignant and they found another tumor in her pelvis. They gave her 3 to 4 months to live, unless she had surgery to remove the tumor, which had spread down her leg enough (something to do with the blood vessels or muscle tissue, was my understanding) that they would also have to amputate her leg. They couldn't guarantee how much more time she would have after that, but it improved her chances, so she went with that option.