When we moved into this house eighteen years ago the woman across the street brought over food and then hosted a get together so that we could meet the neighbors.

Her husband is a retired navy captain who was CO of an aircraft carrier during Vietnam and a pilot/test pilot throughout the rest of his career. She was the quintessential career navy wife, completely elegant, a lovely hostess, the best friend of my daughter for most of her life, and one of the best friends I have ever had. Our families became very close and have been through many, many things together including our infertility, our adoptions, her son's suicide and eventually her horrible battle with renal cancer. She had one of the most horrible, painful deaths I have ever been witness to and died October of 2004. Much of my sideways grief over Katrina is really displaced grief from losing her.

Janelle's daughter now lives with her father across the street, a result of Katrina. In November, 2006 Susan was diagnosed with anal cancer. For the past 5 months she has been undergoing testing, radiation and chemotherapy and I have been trying to be there for her. Tomorrow she will find out if the treatments were successful and she is done with therapy or if they were not enough and she will have to have more surgery with a possible colostomy.

The waiting is causing her to literally shake with fear.