Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Breast Cancer Awareness Month - One Year Later

Wow! I'm sitting here at work. It's only my second day working full time and I am in a complete and utter panic.
 
It's October... Breast Cancer Awareness month. That's a good thing, right? I thought so too. I thought this month would be a great month for me. I owe my life to this month, don't I? I truly believe Breast Cancer Awareness is what saved my life. It turns out this month is not having the effect on me that I thought it would. Breast Cancer Awareness is everywhere and it is making me more and more aware of my own cancer. I just want it to go away. I want all the articles that tell me how bad Triple Negative Breast Cancer in young women is and how I'm more likely to die than an older women to go away.
 
It's crazy how I read one article and it completely sets me off. I've been happy lately. Really happy. Stress free. I've been feeling like I've beat this, it's all behind me... then I read a one page article that has the four keywords I never want to see... young, triple negative, die. I'm mad at myself for letting cancer still have any control over me.
 
My mom literally just sent me an email that immediately brought me back to reality. It read...
 
"Life is too short to wake up with regrets... So love the people who treat you right...Forget about the ones who don't. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it."
 
How is it that moms know exactly what to say at the exact time you need to hear it?
 
I need to remember those words. I was given a second chance. It's now up to me to grab it with both hands. I'm happy. I'm healthy. I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.