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Her Journey In order of entries Update 10-08 August - 2006 "Your mother has Cancer." Those words from my father may as well have been screamed into my ear. I thought "Oh my gosh", and I started to cry. My dad gave the phone to my mother and she said it is a tiny lump and it is very early so the chances of removing it before it went into any lymph nodes is very good. My mom said, "I have to have all kinds of test and I am not going to do it, I am scared." I told her, "I will be there and you will not go through it alone. Thursday afternoon Oct 19th, 2006. I am sitting in the airport in Denver, Colorado waiting for my connecting flight to my home town of Rock Island, Illinois. My thoughts are of my mother as her surgery is about 12 hours away. I, as my mother, am very optimistic and I am looking forward to seeing her and being with her. I am always a little emotional when I go home, I have lived away from my very large family since I was 18 years old. I lived in Peoria, Illinois for 11 years, then Clinton , Iowa for about 2 years then moved to Phoenix. Please think good thoughts. I will let everyone know how things are going.  My Mother Betty Berg Monday afternoon October 23rd, 2006. I am writing this from the airplane (will upload later) and my mother went through breast cancer surgery like a trooper. She keeps saying "I've never heard of anyone having to go through this", meaning all the different steps she had. The nurses were so compassionate, and tried to reassure her. I must admit what my mom went through I had never heard of before either. I cannot say enough about getting your breast exams. There was NO breast cancer in our family and my mother is almost 78 years old. If she had not had her yearly breast exam her situation could have been very different three years from now. We are very fortunate. Ladies please get your exams on time, men encourage your women in your life to get them. Because of her getting her exams and mamograms regularly I have my mom to spend many more years with. We are not completely out of the woods yet, she has to have 35 radiation treatments to make sure no cancer is left.  My Mother and her dog Bo November, 2006 I thought I would update everyone on how my mother is doing. You know they say you never know what you will do until you are faced with a situation. My mother has said many times if she had to go through any kind of serious surgery or chemotherapy she would not do it. When I found out about her breast cancer I thought many times of those words. When I talked to my mother she said she was scared, and I told her she would not be alone I would be there for her. She said she did not want surgery and I told her if she wanted to live she had no choice! I told her when she could not be strong I would be strong for her and I would be there no matter what the outcome was. After she came out of surgery she was in her bed and she looked at me and I told her she was brave and that she owed her own life to herself. The cancer was out and she was going to make a full recovery. The expression on her face was one that will forever be imbedded in my memory. She deserved the credit for saving her own life. That is very powerful! My mom has to go every week-day and have radiation therapy. She has to have forty treatments. She is about 1/3 of the way through the treatments. My mom can be stubborn and I thank God that she is! My mom has to drive herself to her treatments. I as you know live in Phoenix, Arizona and my mom lives in Rock Island, Illinois. My father does not drive. I am sure my mom feels that she can handle getting to the treatments by herself and it is no big deal, but it is a big deal! There are many of us that could not do it, but she does and has kept a pretty strong and positive attitude. She says, “What choice do I have?” And she is right! It is incredible the strength we have when we need it. It is just hard for me because I want to be there for her, to take her to her treatments and I wish there was someone she could count on to help her. She also has to help take care of my grandmother. I will write about my grandmother at another time, she is going to be 95 on January 12th, 2007. She is as healthy as a horse, but only has my mom for company and she lets my mom know it too! So my mom is constantly on the run. So you can see in the picture my mother holding a very tiny little precious Chihuahua. His name is Bo. I bought him for my mother to help her through this process. He is the light of her life right now and as I understand it my fathers too! My dad takes Bo out for walks and shows him off to the neighbors. He is named after my husband Jim. Jim’s nick name is Jimbo so the Chihuahua’s name is Jimbo but called Bo for short. My mom calls my husband her favorite son in law. He is her only son in law but that is besides the point. She says if she had more than one son in law Jim would still be her favorite. Thank you to everyone who has written me in support of my mother and her journey. She is truly a survivor! 
Betty Jane Berg 01-23-07 My Mom has graduated! She is now through with her radiation treatments and her prognosis is almost perfect! She said it herself, she didn't realize her own strength until she was faced with the situation. Mom you are my hero. I love you very much. It was her birthday on the 18th. That is McKayla's birthday as well. She would have been 7 years old. I miss you sweetheart. 11-07 My mom came out for a visit for almost three weeks. She was so rested and it shows in this picture. It is my favorite picture of her in a long time. Of course she was worried about my Grandmother but everything was ok back home and we had a very nice time together.  04-08 My mom is doing fine as far as her cancer goes. She had a check up and the doctor told her everything is still great. She hardly ever rests because my 96 year old grandmother is in a nursing home and my mom goes to see her a lot. A funny story. There is another woman there that we think is jealous that my grandma gets so much attention and visitors almost every day. She snaps at my mom and tells her she is not following rules and she will tell her that visiting hours are over, etc. Pretty funny. 10-08 My mom just went through lots of tests to make sure there is no relapse. So far everything has came back negative - no recurrence of cancer. We had quite a laugh because I had my Mamogram recently as well. Mom said they call the mamogram machine where she goes "the tit crusher" and that is exactly what it is! Mom said one time she had a male who wasn't very sympathetic and remarked, "Lets put your testicals in there and then tell me how it feels!" Haa Haa Haa...you tell em Mom! 
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