It's not fair

[Prudence]

So my brother has a tumor. He had this tumor before, and we were all terribly relieved that it was benign. A grapefruit-sized lump of benign right on his hip joint. So he had surgery, the took it out, and all was supposed to be better.

Except that this particular type of tumor, while benign, is persistently recurrent. It grows back. And the problem is that each time you take it out, to get it all you have to take some of the surrounding tissue. Muscle, in this case. And while the tumor re-grows with vigor, the muscle won't.

And it grows back quickly. I can't remember the exact timeline, but it wasn't that long ago that he had the first tumor removed.

So he went to have it looked at today, and they're concerned. Whether benign or malignant, it's extremely aggressive. Benign, in this case, isn't really that reassuring. The likely scenario is that to get it all they're going to have to remove the entire muscle group.

And my baby brother, who is only 28, is going to walk with a cane - at best - for the rest of his life. My brother, loves hiking in southwestern national parks - like Zion, Arches, etc... - even more than he loves Disney. My brother who works in forestry.

And fvck it all - it's my baby brother. *I* am the eldest. This should be happening to me. It's not fair. I don't love to hike. I would be perfectly happy never hiking again.

And this is all assuming it's benign this time, and we won't know that until they do another biopsy.

So whatever it is that you do when you hear things like this, could you please do it?

(x-posted to LJ)