One year and counting

Today is the anniversary of when I discovered my Cancer 2.0. What a year it has been.

I didn't know what I had found when I became aware of a new presence in my abdomen. Surprisingly, cancer was not the first thing on my mind. I had come that far since my breast cancer in 1996 that I no longer attributed every ache and pain to a cancer recurrence. Certainly in the first year after a cancer diagnosis and treatment, recurrence is never far from your mind. But not after 12 years.

The highs and lows of this past year have been the most extreme of my life. I sit here now in wonder that I feel as well as I do, remembering times when I wondered if there would be a first anniversary of my Cancer 2.0 discovery; it was that much scarier than the breast cancer.

Surviving the surgery and recovering so fully were highs in their own right, but neither compares with the euphoria of holding my first grandchild. I know this baby would have been amazing without the interruption of cancer, but he is even more because of the determination he gave me to get well so I could be his grandma.

I look forward to many, many anniversaries of this day. I intend to fill the days in between with gratitude for every milestone, and with God's help, to finding ways to be a blessing to others.