Baby Steps

The best piece of unsolicited advice I have ever received was when a friend told me, “Don’t try to climb mountains, just take baby steps every day.”

Newly diagnosed with MBC

I had recently been diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer and I was overwhelmed & scared. I was overwhelmed by having to go to more doctor appointments than I'd ever had before, the new side effects from the medications I started and playing what felt like catch-up in understanding MBC better. I was scared about my future, for my then 14 yr old son and how he would handle the news, and how much of a strain on my marriage this would cause. It all seemed too much. And it was.

Baby Steps

Finding happy

I decided to take her advice and apply it to my new situation (I really dislike the term “new normal”). I wasn't going to sit around and wait for cancer to kill me. I wanted life for my family to be happy, not sad or filled with doom & gloom. If I wanted that, it had to start with me.

Baby Steps

Long-term goals

My personal long-term goal was to see my son & stepsons graduate high school. In the meantime, each birthday & each holiday was a new goal to reach. Each one that passed felt like my greatest accomplishment.

Baby Steps

Overwhelming

Before I knew it, the years passed. I was there for all three high school graduations. It was an overwhelming feeling. Four more years passed. Events I wouldn't have dreamed I would be here to see, happened. College graduation, and then a wedding.

Baby Steps

A new meaning

I know my health can change quickly - overnight even. But I don't think of what I may miss. I still live my life taking baby steps. The most recent event I dared not think of, positive I wouldn't be here for happened. This time it came with the best reward of all: I'm a grandmother now.

Baby steps have a whole new meaning now!