Kicking cancer's ass - day 330

As much as I hate to say it, receiving a cancer diagnosis forces you to recognize your own mortality.  Even healthy people know they aren't going to live forever...but most of us just go about our business until our time comes - hopefully many years down the road.  Almost a year ago I was told I had invasive breast cancer...and even though I'm young, otherwise healthy, and the cancer is gone (hopefully?), I still feel like a ticking time bomb.  That's not to say I'm not optimistic or I don't have a positive attitude.  I do.  I'm happy and loving life (except all of those pesky doctors appointments!), but in the back of my mind, there is and probably always will be a little voice saying "what if it comes back?".

I know there are cancer survivors who live for years, even decades, without recurrence.  One of J's teachers told me he knows the longest living cancer survivor in our county, and he said he hoped one day that would be me.  Heck yeah!  But for every happy ending cancer story, there is an unhappy one.  My BFF had cervical cancer, and after celebrating her 5 year cancer-free anniversary, she was hit with breast cancer.  My dear friend Allyson's Monster came back several times after surgery and/or treatment, and the last 7+ years of her life were spent fighting cancer.  My mother-in-law survived breast cancer and lived for ten years, only to have it come back everywhere.

Unfortunately, it's not only cancer.  One of my KCA ladies lost a sweet friend yesterday in a freak accident.  Another lost her adult son a month ago.  A mom I know from J's November 2001 Babycenter group posted yesterday that her friend's husband passed away, leaving behind his wife and I think six kids.  You just never know.  Your world can change in an instant.  I've said it before, and it's sounds like a cliche, but make the most of every day.  Life is too short to be miserable or take anything for granted.

Every day that I wake up to give my kids a hug and tell Hubby I love him is a gift.