If you’ve followed me for a while, you know my story. I’m very transparent. No secrets
Eight years ago, on November 9, 2012, I went to Urgent Care with a stitch in my side. The Urgent Care doc sent me to the ER. My life at that moment felt damn near perfect. I had ended a marginal relationship, moved to Santa Fe (my dream since I was a little girl), and I was writing for a living, creating content for clients who paid me a decent amount to do what I loved best.
They didn’t let me go home from the hospital that night. In fact, I stayed two days, at the end of which I went home with a Stage IV colon cancer diagnosis. I had a 5.5 cm tumor in my colon that had perforated the colon wall, I had a 4.5 cm tumor on my liver, and my lymph nodes were involved.
Thus began a difficult journey. I tend not to say “fight” unless I refer to others, as in “I’m in this fight for other cancer patients.” Fighting connotes negativity; a journey connotes getting from A to B. That was the goal – get from sick to healthy.
My cancer experience was a daily journey through lots of emotions and conditions – fear, fatigue, euphoria, gratitude, more fear, resignation, boredom, more gratitude, love, happiness, more fear, more gratitude.
The overriding conditions were fear and gratitude. I grew up in a home where gratitude was displayed every day, so I naturally gravitated toward trying to find something about which to be grateful, especially in the midst of so much darkness.
A lot happened in my life during that journey, with the end result being a cancer-free diagnosis. Today, almost eight years later, I’m healthy and happy and beyond grateful every day for this life I’ve been given.
So, because it’s what I do, I’ve finished a book, one that began in those days when I was dreading chemo treatments while I was trying to remember what I was most grateful for. My practice had always been to write 1,000 words per day, and I continued that while I was sick. In fact, it was part of my own therapy for myself. Write it down, write it down, write it down, even when you don’t want to, I’d say to myself.
And part of the writing it down included writing down those items or people that deserved my gratitude. On receipts, on the back of envelopes, on Evernote and in my planner.
Thinking about gratitude kept me from dwelling on the statistics, some of which said I had a 2% chance of long term survival. 2% is a very small number when it’s applied to your chances of surviving.
Now that book, which we’re calling Lifesaving Gratitude, will be published in January 2021. I’m grateful for another list of things, not the least of which is that I’m just about done with this process and ready to start another book.
At the top of this page is the first draft of a cover.
I hope you’ll stick with me through this part of my journey. There may be someone in your world, even you, who needs one more word of encouragement. 2020 has had some dark days. My plan all along has been to write a book that will help at least one person feel hopeful. I want Hope to Be Hip. In fact, maybe that will be the title of my next book. Hope is Hip.
What do you think?
Have a great day. Let’s all stay hopeful together. And if you’re so inclined, I’d love to hear in the comments what you’re most grateful for today.