Bubby (my mom) had been diagnosed with cancer of the breast. “I’m not getting cut!” was her first response. “No surgery for me”. I told her not to worry. There was no way she would have to go under the knife. After all she is 101 now. And her Doctor, (Doctor Adelman) said it probably wouldn’t effect her for five years. But it was growing and she suggested going to see a specialist.

The day after our red carpet event I took my mom to the cancer specialist. Fearlessly we went together. Dr. Mena was perhaps one of the nicest doctors we had come in contact with in the past…well, maybe ever.  His office was filled with beautiful and fun things. Like a spilled glass of coffee and an African face tissue box with the tissues coming out of the nose of the face.  He came into the office and saw my mother’s interest in the glass container of chocolates on his desk. He offered my mom a Girradelli chocolate from the bag. She immediately unwrapped it and took a bite. “This is delicious,” she said with the joy of chocolate in her mouth. “I’d like the whole box.” He said, “Here take it, I can get more.” She was only kidding but he insisted, and that was the first step of falling in love with Dr. Mena.

When he spoke to her and saw that she was having trouble hearing, he got up from behind his desk and knelt down beside her so she could hear him better without having to raise his voice. He had a kindness about him that was noticeable, and we both felt very comfortable being with him. When he did the examination he had his arm around her when he checked her heart, and he had his eyes closed when he checked out the cancer. I could see he was truly coming from a Spiritual place. Almost sensing what was going on with the cancer. He was shocked that my mother wasn’t in pain, and his prognosis was that she would have to have a biopsy so he could figure out exactly what medication he could give her to shrink the cancer and perhaps make it disappear. So that will be our next step – planing for what comes next. He seemed pretty sure that she would be without pain in the future. So now we move forward. I’ll keep you posted.