Where's The Punchline?

So a funny thing happened yesterday...

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My Mother-in-law called up. She could not remember if she had sent out Joe's birthday card or not. She didn't think she had, but couldn't find it anywhere in her condo. She laughed and said her memory was failing her since she's so old. I laughed and told her that I would keep an eye out for the card and call when it came. She described the card to me...Green envelope (Joe's favorite color) and regular card size. We talked some more, catching up on each other's lives. She told me a few more stories about her old, failing memory. It was really funny. We laughed and laughed about the bad stuff that accompanies aging. Just to be sure everything was alright, her doctor ordered a few tests that she had done that same morning. She was sure everything was fine. Nothing wrong but her getting old. I again promised that I would call if the card arrived in the mail and we hung up.

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A couple hours later I picked up Joe from Kindergarten yesterday. The mail lady came at the same time. Joe's birthday card had arrived, but it wasn't green...it was white. I laughed thinking of my Mother-in-law's comments about her failing memory. I also laughed thinking of what she would say when I told her the birthday card had arrived and was a different color. I just knew that my Mother-in-law had probably searched her condo top to bottom, front to back at least three times and probably cleaned each time as well...just searching for that card. I knew that she would laugh about all that time she had used up when she could have been reading or doing something else. I was excited to call her and tell her that the card had arrived. I knew she would be relieved.

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When I got inside, I had four messages. One was from her. It was a short message. The doctor had called with the results. She has a brain tumor. As I heard that, all I could think was...what's the joke? Is it April's Fool? No, we're in October. So, where's the punchline?

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I called her back. She tried to play it off. The tumor is on the right side and only 6 cm, she said. It was a short call. She really wasn't in the mood to talk. That's alright, I really didn't have much to say except Wow and I love you. Before we hung up, she told me that she had found the green card and would put it in the mail tomorrow. I laughed and told her that a card had arrived today from her. She couldn't understand it. Then said, "Well, I guess that tumor really is affecting my memory."

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I got a call a few minutes ago from a dear Sister-in-law, Hubby's oldest sister. Mother-in-law was admitted to the hospital at 11:00 am. She couldn't keep any thing down and her headaches became so severe that my Father-in-law took her to the hospital. That is HUGE! While there, someone took another look at the test results. The tumor isn't 6 cm. It's the size of a small chicken egg.

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They're waiting to hear back from two other hospitals. It's a bit of a race to see which hospital can locate a neurosurgeon first. Then she'll be transported to that hospital. And that's all they know right now. They'll call me when they hear more.

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And I still can't help but wonder, where's the punchline?