Normally, I am a very positive person, always ready for something new to do or see or learn or experience.
Those qualities sustained me this past year.
Just so you know, I became very independent at an early age, as my childhood was devoid of unconditional maternal love. Fortunately, my father and paternal grandmother filled the void, as did two maternal figures, one my high school history teacher and the other my boss on the county bookmobile.
Last May, after a routine screening test, I learned I had breast cancer. Again. My first bout occurred in 2007. This time, the tumor – also small, but still … – required two biopsies, one so painful I almost fainted. I certainly screamed. Thoughts of medieval torture and thumbscrews crossed my mind as I staggered out of the procedure room.
The surgery “went well,” they said. The next day, however, my heart decided to prove them wrong. A trip to the ER and a diagnosis of cardiac arrhythmias and AFib led to a night and a day in the hospital. Not fun, though some drugs placated my outraged heart. Then came radiation, this time just three weeks, but with redness and burns I didn’t experience the first time around.
But that’s enough weeping and gnashing of teeth. Boo hoo, time to move on. And I did.
I turned to quilting once again. Something tangible. Something that symbolized escape from my personal situation, as well as the constantly horrifying state of my country under the new administration.
While waiting several weeks for surgery, I bought a Janome sewing machine and returned to quilting, something I once did to get through severe Wyoming winters after my son’s birth. At the time, there was only one book available on quilting. Beth Gutcheson’s The Perfect Patchwork Primer. That and The Quilter’s Newsletter taught me a lot.
Now, of course, the landscape of quilting seems unending. So much fabulous fabric to choose from. So many new techniques. So many sewing machines, some with computers that take the art of quilting to a whole new level.
Some of the quilts I’ve finished:
With every quilt, I learn something new. And my yearning for more fabric becomes more intense!
I wish everyone a better New Year!
CYNTHIA D. BERTELSEN 
Thank you, Dianne, for sharing your story. Glad your case turned out to be benign!
Cynthia. Your post brought back memories of a lump biopsied in my doctor’s office with a large needle plunged into the spot to extract fluid for a check. Yikes!! As an RN I was trying to be stoic. That week my surgeon had done two other similar procedures on also young women. I had a lumpectomy ASAP..2 days later..with the agreement that if a frozen tissue sample showed cancer I was to be woken up and a mastectomy plan worked on before another surgery. I was so lucky and all was benign. The other two ladies had mastectomies per the surgeon; he was kind and so empathetic..also distressed that in one week this situation had presented itself to him. We always liked to see him make rounds as he was gentle with our patients. Take heart and know you are doing your best. Now I am 83..still here; this good doctor has gone sadly…he was one of a kind and I am sure always missed for his skill and personality. Dianne