My run with Cancer

In a way getting the news in January was a relief.   Every scan came with the anxiety of “will this be THE ONE”; the scan that will mark the beginning of the end?   So once we absorbed the information, I could start to formulate my “game plan”.   Through all my diagnoses and changes in treatment plan, etc… this has always been the most important stage.   The Game Plan.   Once I know what we are doing, and how I need to plan and adjust my life around the plan, I can move forward with life.    Living WITH  Cancer is how I chose to move forward.   When Ian asked me what I wanted to do before I had to start chemo (which we assumed to be early summer), my answer was : “Go to Nashville, New Orleans, and run a half marathon”. Unfortunately, COVID had other plans for us when it came to travel…   but the half marathon was totally within my control.   So that’s what I did.   Ian begrudgingly decided to run it with me.   I think he...

I think it’s important to start with … I am not a writer.   I went into the Sciences in large part to avoid writing essays... so this is a little outside of my comfort zone.  It may not be pretty or poetic... but it's me.  I am starting this blog as a way to communicate updates and how I’m managing, to those who want to know.   Given that this will not be a sprint to the finish line, I don’t really want to post all the play-by-plays on Facebook (too many sports analogies?). I guess for those who haven’t been around for the whole journey, my run with cancer has been a long and unexpected one.     It started with a diagnosis of Breast Cancer at the age of 33 (10 years ago... if you're counting).   This came after 5 months of investigations in follow-up to a miscarriage I had on Family Day of 2010.   It took until July 7, 2010 for it to be eventually diagnosed and surgery scheduled.   I was told a number of times “well you’re too young ...