The Diagnosis

Christina's tumor was discovered on the evening of Monday, February 3rd, 2020.  

Early in the day, she called me at my work to tell me that she could not concentrate on her work, that it was extremely difficult to put a sentence together.  I thought that she was feeling too much pressure to close difficult business deals that she had been working on for the past few months.  To help her relax, I suggested taking the afternoon off and prepare for the evening Toastmaster's meeting, where she was going to deliver a speech - "go easy on yourself Christina, it is just a deal".

Toastmasters was Christina's favorite activity.  She was an exceptional speaker.  Her aspiration was to become a professional speaker, go on tours and enjoy her life doing what she felt really passionate about.  I had seen Christina speak at different events and enjoyed her talks immensely.  Her voice intonations, always calm and confident, body language perfect.  She always had something funny and personal to say in her speeches which gave her a good repour with her audience.  She used to collect little evaluation notes handed to her at the end of sessions as small trophies: "well done Christina!", "could not fault on anything tonight", "Enjoyed the story and the jokes!", "Cannot wait until you speak again!".  She was delightful as a toastmaster!  

For her February 3rd speech, she had written the material over the weekend and had practiced several times.  Every Sunday afternoon she would disappear into our bedroom and practice her speeches in privacy.  The rest of us would go about our day but we could listen through the walls her muffled voice and would know that mom was practicing.  What a sweet routine!  However, that particular weekend, I had noticed that she had been restless and attributed her state to the pressures that she had been experiencing at work with her clients.

That Monday night, I arrived home late from my office, and by that time Christina had already left for her meeting.  Monday was always a busy weekday in our family: Christina had toastmaster's and Raquel, my youngest daughter had "Army Cadets".  Christina would often drop off Raquel at cadets and I would pick her up at the end at around 9:15 PM.  When Christina arrived home from her meeting I greeted her as usual at the door, but that night  the first thing she said as soon as she opened the door was:  - "Is my face drooping?", "No, cannot say it is, hang on let me turn on the light".  In the light of the kitchen, I could see my wife's concerned face and yes, the right side of her face was drooping.  "They told me at Toastmaster's that I could be having a stroke, but perhaps it is nothing".  - "Christina, let's go to Emergency and let them rule it out for you.  Yes, perhaps it is nothing".  we left for the hospital but the anguish was already mounting in our minds.

When we arrived at the hospital she was seen by one of the ER doctors immediately.  After a neurological assessment, a CT scan was ordered.  Once the scan had been examined by a radiologist, the ER doctor went to see us and asked us to accompany him into a more secluded and comfortable area.  We started to walk down the hallway and followed the doctor until he stopped at a door with the label "Family Room".   He asked us to enter, and inside we found very comfortable chairs.  After inviting us to sit he delivered the news:

-"Christina, we have found a mass in your brain.  It is a tumor, most likely cancer".