Today would have been my mum's birthday, had she lived. She was borne in 1921, so 87, as my math goes, would have been her age. But she got an aggressive cancer in her throat, in her tonsils to be specific.
Now comes the strange thing. She had hers removed at a very young age (from what I remember from Ma, perhaps twelve years of age), so they should not present a problem.
But get the bad cancer she did.
I also remember Ma (for those of who that do not read my posts regularly, Ma was my mum's mum) telling me that the physician did not cut out those tonsils, but "he jest peeled 'em out, and there was no blood". I wonder if he might have left some cells that went dark in doing that.
Tonsils are not a welcomed subject around here. Mrs. Translator had problems with hers, and her mum had them cut out from her. I never had any problems, and rejoice that I am intact except for a little sinus bone and, well, a foreskin.
Neither Youngest nor Middle Sons seem to have a tonsil problem, but Eldest son has big, honking ones. I am talking about the size of hen's eggs, almost, when they are normal. They are also full of pits to trap food bits.
He loves rice, but can not eat it because fragments catch in the pits, then ferment and irritate them. I have never seen anything like it. Perhaps it is related to the Marfan's syndrome.
But I digress horribly.
How could my mum have no tonsils, and succumb to tonsil cancer? I ask for information from you oncologists out here, and I know that some of us Kossacks are in that profession.
On a lighter note, the entire close family had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Sure, we cooked the food and ate it, but the best part was the talking between bites. All of the boys were there, Eldest's son betrothed, and Grandmum, too. After a very nice dinner, we sat and talked and laughed for several hours. That is the important thing.
But I remember the ones not here. Holidays are bittersweet.
Warmest regards,
Doc