4 years and counting!
Well, last week I celebrated my 4 year anniversary as a survivor. My diagnosis date was April 7, 2004. My boyfriend always asks me why I celebrate that day -- he thinks it sounds more like a day I should want to forget. I guess I can understand that -- and certainly the marking of that day is a bittersweet one but still one I feel is deserving of recognition.
Each year on that day, I remember how lucky I am to be here and for all of things I have had the chance to do because of my early diagnosis. I also think about my friends who have not been as lucky as I have -- they are either in treatment for a recurrence or have lost the fight. My friend Rachel Troxell, my neighbor Audrey Dalton, and Carol Cohen, the first woman I talked to at my support group, all left behind so many people who they touched and who miss them everyday. My friend Sherry Rotheram who is in treatment because her breast cancer returned in her soft tissue and now in her brain.
So another year passes and I look forward to my 5 year anniversary being right around the corner. It's certainly a date to celebrate given that all the research shows that 5 years being cancer free makes your long term prognosis even better -- cheers to that. And with my 38th birthday right around the corner and a few new gray hairs popping up here and there -- I say bring it on!! Getting old never sounded so good.
