Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong

Still stunned

It's been a crazy week. I'm finally done with "Big Brother". The finale was last Tuesday and we survived the two hour finale. It was good TV with the final three and it could've gone any way for a winner. But Jordan pulled it out 5 votes to 2 and since I had picked Jordan in the pre-move-in pool, I won $170. Not too shabby. In my 6 seasons on BB, I've now picked 4 final two houseguests but this was my first win. Woo-hoo! Not sure what I'll spend it on but it'll be something good.

In other good news, my friend S gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on Thursday. She has two daughters in 2nd and 4th grade so this little boy is going to be treated like a prince. I'm so happy for all of them.

On another front, my head has also been spinning by some truly devastating news. My friend E, out of the freaking blue, was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer which has spread to her brain, liver and bones. Needless to say, it doesn't look good but she's got a game plan on chemo and radiation and will fight this all the way. She had been complaining of back pain for the past few weeks, and when she went to her son's pre-school, all of a sudden, she had some kind of a seizure and her arm started flailing around uncontrollably. Her husband took her to St. John's in Santa Monica. They did a brain CT, a brain MRI and then a total body scan and found the cancer. It seems that there's also a tumor in her hip which has been causing the back pain. OMG! Words cannot describe how this has devastated me. This is someone who's 44 years old and has a 3 son and a 1 year old daughter. E and her DH have had other tragedy in their lives which is how they came to adopt these two beautiful kids but they don't deserve this, no one does. It makes me angry how G-d or whatever higher power can do this to really good people. I pray every day that he/she's doing a "psyche" and thinking "I've given you another challenge and you've passed my test." and she'll be a medical miracle. It just has to happen that way.

When my BF was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, it sucked completely but there was NO doubt that M would come through this with flying colors, and she has. With this, it feels like it's 180 degrees different which is why I feel like I've been punched in the stomach. E posted it the devastating news on her Facebook page last Sunday having all this happen on Friday, 9/11. WTF is it with that cursed day? I saw a show on the Weather Channel about Hurricane Iniki back in 1993 which also hit on 9/11. But I digress. I was driving to work on Monday and I literally felt nauseous. I've never had anything like that happen to my physically before. I was shaking when I read the post right before our last BB production meeting. It was not easy to focus after that but I was physically ill for two full days.

Anyway, I know E from the DGA. We both serve on the National Board and she's someone who's a staunch supporter of all that the DGA stands for. We all are, but she's so vocal and knowledgeable at the board meetings, at negotiations, and she's just inspiring. She's my one real friend on the AD/UPM side of things. I met her about 12 or 13 years ago at a PAC event where Rep. Dick Gephardt was present. We've been casual friends since but definitely bonded again at the DGA Negotiations in 2007-08 and when I was elected to the National Board in 2007. This DGA Biennial Convention about 2 months ago (where the new board is elected), she was the one who stood up for me in front of all the delegates and sang my praises. She was the one who read down my resume and my accomplishments and helped get me re-elected. And I wasn't even there to be red in the face in person. She's a strong advocate for adoption and she's an even stronger voice promoting breastfeeding your kids, even if they're adopted. She's BF both kids, which is no easy feat. She leads a clean life which makes all of this so unbelieveable.

Anyway, I needed to get all this down and some of this out of my system. I pray for her strength. I pray for her husband and beautiful little kids. This is definitely one of those cases where you want to be angry and scream "WHY?" With all the fuckheads on this planet, there is no explanation for this happening to one of the true good ones walking around. If you have a little space on your prayer list, please say a little one for E. She needs to win this battle.

Here's a shot of her BFing her daughter.



And here's my favorite picture of her. Just gorgeous inside and out.

posted by Juls @ 9:43 PM