Thanks Thinker. I am so appreciative when I have a response here (I guess I'm a tad "needy")...no one IRL really knows what I'm going through because I try not to talk about it.
This marathon feels so much more about me than about saving my M. That is a positive, I think.
Funny enough, I did not really expect anything too different from what I'm getting, it is just the horror of living through the things that I have braced myself for. I will be ok. I may cry more, but I'll be ok.