...emia

I got a call this evening from my father. He's been told he has leukemia. He's scared.

I called my sister after the parents had had a chance to call her. By the time we spoke, she had called another family member who's a doctor; he said it might just be anemia. I suppose it's possible; Dad is supposed to go in for a transfusion on Monday, which sounds like a response to anemia.

Neither my sister nor I were as emotionally rocked by the news as we expected to be, and neither of us can understand why. We've promised to keep in touch with each other. I'm not good at that; I hope I can do it.

Dad will not go to the funeral next week; mother may not be able to. I'll go anyway; it's come to mean a lot to my mother that I go.

I'm hoping for good news. I'm expecting to be disappointed.