When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, Steve and I had been married for 10 years and 2 months. We had already weathered a few storms together, including job loss, two miscarriages and the deaths of my father and both of my grandmothers, as well as his grandfather. We knew life could hand out downs,…
cancer thriver
Travel: Take The Trip
When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, the first thing my then 8 year old daughter asked me was “Will we still get to go on our trip and have Christmas?” Knowing that our family vacation to Destin, Florida was just a week away, I had wondered about that too. I asked my cancer surgeon…
Cancer Gift Guide: Chemo Recovery
Cancer treatment is typically a long and harrowing experience. Chemotherapy infusions is one of the most well-known aspects of treatment and getting through them can be rough. I recently posted a chemotherapy gift guide with items that helped me handle infusion days. But not only will you need help getting through multiple chemotherapy infusions, recovering…
The Kids are Okay
My mom died two months before I turned 8 years old. Just two months after my oldest daughter turned 8, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Then I became a parent with cancer. Life sometimes feels like reliving past trauma in a cruel pattern, only with slight variations. As I child, I spent countless hours…
The Middle of Things
There’s something about being in the middle of something. It’s hard to get started on a journey, a project, a challenge, whatever it is, it takes motivation and navigating unknowns to begin. But to be in the middle, ugh, it can feel like it stretches on and on, right? There’s only one beginning and one…
Growth: Good Things Take Time
I have this quote in my home that gives me a dose of hope every time I see it. It’s in our family room/kitchen area so it’s easy to see but also easy to miss, because it’s always there. It hangs on the wall, in a place I walk by a thousand times each day….
My Cancer Story: Diagnosed
The moment I heard the words “you have cancer” my heart fell a thousand feet. My initial reaction was a feeling of hopelessness. However the voice on the other end of the line was kind and careful. She was the one who had first felt my lump the day after I found it. She was…