When Things Happen

I don't post often, as is apparent from my blog. In this case, I felt the need to write it all down. It's possible I'm using my blog as a diary, since writing is therapy for me. This became especially true after I was diagnosed with breast cancer in October of 2015. Cancer is a particularly nasty word and the diagnosis was a shocker, to say the least. I'm not sure I would've been able to deal with it if it weren't for my family and my friends.

My husband immediately took the role of my champion, my motivator. We had to cancel a scheduled trip to India, something we'd been looking forward to. Now he's constantly by my side, researching every detail, reading up on forums. Chemotherapy can drain you, but he made it bearable. I'm still in chemo, with two months to go, but I can do it with him and my kids by my side.

Stress can be an important factor preventing healing, something my colleagues at work understood well. They rallied around me, making sure I could stay home during my treatment, and reassuring me they'd take excellent care of my patients while I was off. I'm truly grateful to them for that.

They say adversity will reveal your true friends. As soon as the news spread, I had friends calling me and offering to bring food, telling me about others who'd survived cancer, offering me hope and positive energy. And I love them for that. Of course, there are people who couldn't look me in the eye, who avoided me. But I had to imagine it's because they didn't know how to word their sympathy.

And, then there's writing. My writing gives me goals, short term goals I set each day. Some days I don't achieve those goals, but that's okay. So far, while in chemo, I've revised my current novel, a YA psychological thriller. Over the next few months, I plan to do a rewrite on a YA contemporary.

So, all in all, I'm living day by day and daring to hope that I can look forward. In this, I have my friends and family by my side to support me.