Hypothetical Imp, who would totally have a name that was less literal and more metaphorical (I do love a good literary reference).

Debet, do NOT think that this is any less of a situation than any of the rest of us are going through.

I wish there was something that I could tell you that would help, but (at least for me) knowing b.org peeps were around to listen and support me was (and is) more than comforting.

Once grad school is over and you are financially comfortable and if you get pregnant, I really hope the preg's nickname on the board will be Hypothetical Imp.

Man, I doubt my commitment to sparkle motion and caffeine. I just realized that ALL of the tea I've been drinking today has been decaf. Sort of meant for the first two to be actual tea. Dammit.

Maria, definitely no less of a situation, though, hopefully, less [insert relevant adjective] of one.

Cass, so noted.

Caffeine is so non-optional.

I am you in the wanting data, debet. I've spent a lot of time looking at risk assessment, because nuclear power is all about quantifying risks, and then I got stage 3b breast cancer and became a statistics fiend. I spent a lot of time muttering, "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." My most comforting thought was the knowledge that all five-year statistics are more than five years old.

Aside from the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which account for about 4 percent of cases, the family connection is fuzzy because it's thought that a combination of genes can increase your susceptibility to breast cancer and even with family members on both sides, the genetic deck gets reshuffled unpredictably.

I do hope your mother's cancer stays simple. Without lymph note involvement, the survival stats are excellent. And I don't think you'd be human if you didn't sometimes think, "But what does this mean for me?"

Let me know if there's anything I can do.

Thanks, Ginger. I may run more data by you, if/when there is more data.

Ginger is a bad-ass data fiend.

Ginger is a bad-ass data fiend.

Yes.

Thanks, all. It was pretty good day.

Debet, what everyone said - of course you're thinking about what it means for you. It's a sucky situation. All the best for your mom, and for you.

Statistics, ho! We love data.

smonster, awesome that your team's finally a team!

Debet, I don't think you are overreacting at all.

Nora, you and Taz look great!!

I made a point of telling my team how awesome they are in front of my supervisor, and he corroborated. We got so much done in a short day, and no complaints, and lots of helping each other, and no incident reports!! Woot.

And then I went and had free drinks and raw vegan food with a bunch of other environmentalists, and it was good.

And now I'm going to eat a small dinner and go to bed and I hope sleep for twelve hours, which is what I usually do on Friday nights.