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Show CHRYSALIS pAGE 4Q If something should happen to me, it would be harder for Chris than for the others. For him, especially, I have to stay well! He told me this story called The Cat in the Window: "Once upon a time there was a cat was in the window, and he was sad, and he kept looking for his mother because he was lonely. But his mother never came back, because she was dead." Two o'clock in the morning and sleep won't come. But I ought to sleep so that I can take the boys to the library today. The ritual is to spend Tuesday mornings in the public library, where they offer a pre-school story-hour, and I have the hour for myself. I read all I can find concerning cancer, melanoma in particular. Everything I know about my illness I discover during these hours alone, and all of it is horrid and terrifying and impersonal. I know the odds are not good. I read: A melanoma is a tumor which contains melanin, the dark pigment found in the skin, hair, and eyes. This cancer ordinarily begins as a small irregularly-shaped growth that's bluish-black or dark brown. Sometimes it has no color at all. Most often it occurs in a mole or other birthmark. It gets steadily larger and may bleed after the slightest injury. The lymphatic system is the main invasion route of melanomas. Through |