As many of you who read my blog know, my blog is a "two-fer". I am both a thyroid cancer survivor as well as a breast cancer survivor. Celebrating a cancerversary ( or not) is a very personal thing. Some people celebrate different times or stages in their cancer journey. I happen to celebrate the day of my surgeries. I feel like this is a day that my surgeons and I kicked my cancer to the curb, for the most part. I mean, I had treatment ( RAI, chemotherapy, etc. ) as well as the surgeries, but the days that I had the cancers removed from my body is the day I like to celebrate. And just for the record, May 19th is my 14 year thyroid cancerversary and May 22nd is my 9 year breast cancerversary.
I try my best to practice gratitude every day. I am thankful for big things- being in remission, my family and friends, great surgeons and other health care providers who have helped me get this far. But I am also thankful for the small things in life and try to find at least one thing each day that I am thankful for. Nature has been a big healer for me, as well. We live out in the country, and I am fortunate to have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink, as well as beautiful plants all around me. My husband works tirelessly on our home landscape to provide beautiful flowers, shrubs and trees and I am very thankful for that.
One thing I have been noticing, as I have been reading several of the posts from patients on the thyroid/breast cancer websites that I follow, is the fear of recurrence. I am such a worrier. Both of the types of cancer that I had have a fairly large percentage of recurrence. Does it help to worry? No, of course not! Logically, I know that I have made the best decisions about treatment that I possibly could. I feel good about the choices that I have made, yet the fear of recurrence still lurks somewhere in the background. Everyone is different- and there is no one treatment plan that is best, or suits, everyone. Sometimes when I read posts from patients who had the same type of cancer (s) that I had, I wonder if I should have done something different in my cancer(s) treatment. Second guessing is never good, and this practice just leads to more worry.
People who have had cancer celebrate their cancerversary ( or cancerversaries) differently. Some patients choose not to celebrate at all, which is fine by the way. Some people take trips, go out to dinner, do something nice with family or friends, have a self care day, etc. Every year has been a little different for me. Mostly, my cancerversaries have been rather low key. This weekend, my children and grandchildren spent the weekend with my husband and me. We had an early birthday party for one of my granddaughters who turns 5 years old at the end of this month. Having all of my family at my house for the weekend is my favorite thing in the world. I love to see everyone having a good time, I love to cook for them ( my love language, as the saying goes, is baking for family and friends) and of course, I love just seeing and talking to everyone. My thyroid cancerversary happened to fall on the last day that they were here. I felt like I had celebrated all weekend, though the party was for my granddaughter.
On May 22nd, I am throwing an end of the year party for the first grade class that I have been volunteering with all year. I have helped them with mostly reading and AR tests, but they have helped me far more than I have helped them! Every Wednesday, which has become my favorite day of the week, I have spent a couple of hours with the students. I am very thankful for the teacher and assistant teacher who allow me to come into their classroom and spend some quality time with their students. This particular teacher and assistant have a nurturing, creative classroom and I really enjoy all of the interesting things that go on there. I get lots of hugs and some beautiful pictures, so being around these children has made me very happy. "Happy" is good medicine. I hope that all cancer patients, in recovery or active treatment, can have lots of "happy" in their lives.
To my fellow pink sisters/thyroid cancer sisters who have a May cancerversary( cancerversaries) I would like to send you my love and best wishes. However you celebrate, I wish you a great day and lots of happiness. Try to kick worry to the curb and have a wonderful day. Every day we are here on earth is a great day to be thankful and happy.
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