important information

i've had the inkling that my gpa is sick for a while now. he is 85, so it makes scene that he has some health problems. i've heard my mom talking about his doctor's visits and medications. but nothing had ever been said to me officially.... until yesterday.

my mom called to give me the play dough recipe i requested. we chatted about how my aunt and uncle from maine were in the area to visit gpa and the other aunt and uncle in the area before heading on their annual montana fly fishing excursion. i currently live 20 miles away from gpa and 40 from the other aunt and uncle in the area. so mom said i should call the maine relatives and see if there were back from taking gpa to get his chemo treatments in the big city. "um... what?" was my replay. mom responded with, "well, gpa's leukemia, you know about that, is making his blood count a little off." me, "no, mom, i didn't know gpa has leukemia." mom, "oh, well, it isn't bad. they are going to do some mild chemo to get his blood count better." me, "oh, ok." then, we chat a little more and then hang up. so now there are a million questions going through my head, "how long has he had leukemia? is there anything else wrong? do i have any other sick relatives that i don't know about? etc" i ended up having supper with the maine relatives at the local pizza joint. aunt m actually talked to me about gpa being sick and the treatments. most patients have 6 rounds of chemo each month. gpa is just having 3 each month. so things aren't that bad.

i think this evening i'm going to call my sisters and see if they know about gpa. that is information that families share with each other.