Embracing Life

ginning with the January 2021 issue, which described my diagnosis and surgery. I continued to document the experience sequentially: February, chemotherapy; March, radiation; and April, surviving and paying it forward.

Using my journals written during the experience and email updates sent to family and friends by my husband, John, helped in putting the stories together to share, inform and maybe alleviate some of the fear and mystery. After all, we all know someone who has experienced cancer, or have had it ourselves. Writing and sharing was a therapeutic exercise for me and kept me moving forward. Those 2021 stories are available at tidewatertimes.com .

I received heartwarming feedback from my cancer chronicles. Readers contacted the magazine for more copies to share. Strangers approached me in public with appreciation for opening the door on the cancer trek. Women told me they had made appointments for the mammograms they had put off during the pandemic or because they were just too crazy-busy.

During the next year, my doctors suggested that I write a first-year survivor story, which I did in the April 2022 issue. It documents a year of recovery, regaining strength and stamina, continuing required follow-up exams and testing and