Tag Archives: Acute Promyelotic Leukemia

Cured

So, here I am, days away from my five-year cancerversary and I’ve just started unpacking my feelings related to my cancer experience. That it was gruelling but not in the traditional sense (according to others). That I didn’t really get kicked in the teeth the way many do but it was horrific all the same. That I avoided infections and my heart didn’t stop but I will never be discharged from care because I will always be considered at risk…not to mention my immune system is permanently damaged which will always put me at risk. What I went through was hell. Utter hell, and it deserved to be acknowledged as such, processed as such, fully in my intellectual and emotional being.

Yet, while I find myself working through the reality of my experience. I also feel a significant amount of gratitude. It’s nearly overwhelming at times. My life has changed in ways I could never have imagined. Celebrate my five-year cancerversary and a look back at what the last five years has been like!

The Road to Courageous Living – Official Launch

It’s here! It’s here! Today is an exciting day. My very first non-fiction book, The Road to Courageous Living: Learning Audacious Self-Love and the Skills to Harness Personal Success, has officially launched on Amazon and Kindle!!! I have spent significant time in reflection over the last few weeks as I prepared for this awesome day,Continue reading “The Road to Courageous Living – Official Launch”

The Road to Courageous Living

Sitting in that hospital bed, being checked over and over again for signs of bleeding in my brain, I thought about how unhappy I was. I had spent my life believing that achieving success meant following a specific formula. It was something like, work as hard as you can to make lots of money so you can have lots of expensive things and then you’ll be happy. At times, the knowing that the life I was living was not meant for me would bubble up but I would push it back down because I had worked so hard to become that version of myself-the version I thought I was supposed to be. Yet, at that moment, when the likelihood of my continued existence was bleak, I could no longer deny what I had always known. That everything I believed would make me feel happy and fulfilled was total bullshit.

To the nurse standing by my bed, I proclaimed, “I’ve lived my entire life doing the things I believed I needed to do to be successful and I realize now it was all a lie. When we’re done here, I’m going to write a book and tell the whole world. They need to know that they don’t have to live by anyone’s standards but their own.”

Nearly five years later, that’s exactly what I did. Introducing, The Road to Courageous Living: Learning Audacious Self-Love and the Skills to Harness Personal Success, available for pre-order on Amazon and Kindle on October 18th!

Talking Shit and How to Fix it

I did not know much about cancer, or the side effects of treatment before I myself was diagnosed. I expected I would feel sick often, my hair would fall out and I would likely not be able to taste properly or at all. What I did not consider, until the very moment it became my reality is that chemotherapy would wreak havoc on my gastrointestinal system. If we stop to think about it, it makes perfect sense. All of that toxic liquid is being pumped into our veins and like anything else, it’s gotta come out one way or the other!
Join me for more on my cancer recovery and why it is so important to self-advocate.

Ambivalence: Friend or Foe?

I felt guilty for doing what was natural to me all too often; sharing. I heard it often enough that it became part of my internal dialogue. I started scolding myself for sharing, questioning everything I said to my friends, and at times even felt shame for sharing. At some point over the years, I decided to give myself grace and settled into the type of comfort only people who genuinely know and love themselves can understand. After my diagnosis, I began noticing how people reacted to my honesty. It is no surprise that people are uncomfortable with talking about ‘the big C’. I am acutely aware of this, as I used to be one of those people. I also recognized that people just do not like the feeling of experiencing someone else’s negative feelings. It’s never pleasant and many people default to fixers. Still, I had this driving need to honor myself, to speak my truth, and, maybe most importantly in this case, to raise awareness of an illness I never even knew existed until I was sitting in front of a doctor telling me I had it.

Three Years Later

It was three years ago, right this very moment, I sat on the side of my bed, covered in bruises, blood vessels bursting, hemorrhaging, on the phone with TeleHealth to ask them if they thought I should go to work or not. I intended on going. I had already missed a full week in the office for the muscle I had locked in my hip days before. I didn’t want to miss anymore time at work.

It was easy to pass it off as not a big deal. Like I was being a big baby. I should just suck it up because duty calls.

How I Took My Life Back From Anxiety After Cancer

I allowed the emotions to visit me because it’s healthy to remember from where and how far you’ve come. Not only to pat myself on the back for my progress but also as continued motivation.

I only stayed there for a very short while; a few minutes at best. It’s not healthy to stay there any longer. It’s in the past and serves no great purpose. Instead, I began thinking about what it took to break the anxiety. Not only learning the lessons of how to be healthier mentally but also to begin putting those lessons into practice.

One of the things I promised myself was I would never lead my life with fear again.

Our Sisters In Pink Fundraiser

If anyone had suggested, even two years ago, that one day I would stand on a stage talking to 500 women in a cat onesie about my cancer journey, I would have suggested they seek therapy! Yet, on January 18, 2019 that’s exactly what I did. I had the great privilege of guest speaking atContinue reading “Our Sisters In Pink Fundraiser”

How Complacency Almost Cost Me My Life

As I mentioned in my last article, Cancerversary Turmoil, it’s been a very emotional couple of weeks for me…I’m realizing for my family, people who are very close to me and even some who aren’t always so close too. Christmas now takes on a very different meaning for us all. On Christmas day last year,Continue reading “How Complacency Almost Cost Me My Life”

Cancerversary Turmoil

According to an article written by the National Centre for Biotechnology Information, nearly 30% of people diagnosed with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia die either prior to treatment beginning, within the first 3 days of treatment, proceeding the first 3 days of treatment or in the moderate to high risk group. What it boils down to is, the time from onset to mortality is very short and the symptoms of leukemia can be chalked up to anything from overexertion in day to day life to the flu. Before you know it, it has advanced beyond the point of a body’s ability to handle the treatment or protect itself anymore. I am within the high risk group and can’t help but wonder if my (former) family doctor had taken my concern seriously the first time I called how that would have changed what I had to go through to get well again. Highlighting the urgent need for us, as patients, to advocate for ourselves.