The Other Side of the Hurdle?

A slightly more obscure Snoopy dance of joy. Delightful!

This week, we got some wonderful news:  my blood work has come back exactly where my oncologist had hoped it would be, which means my response to medication and treatment is going well.  Additionally, my oncologist also reviewed the mammogram and ultrasound results, and everything looks clear and very good at the moment.

Take that breast cancer!

There are no guarantees with something like this.  Especially because the type of breast cancer that I had can be stealthy and hard to spot on mammogram films, because it tends to spread out in thin, single-celled tendrils instead of larger and easier-to-spot clumps of cells. 

But I am allowing myself to be a bit more hopeful.

Vigilance, better dietary changes and some more exercise will be the watchwords going forward.  If the worst happens again, I want to be able to say that I did everything I could to stave it off for as long as humanly possible.  You don't want those sorts of regrets on your plate, right?

At the same time, though, it won't be all kale and step aerobics and misery, either.  If I have learned nothing from this last round of cancer treatment, it is this:  you have to live every day to the fullest, and leave no wonderful life experience on the table if you can possibly do that. 

Love fiercely.  Find joy in the every day things.  Hold your family and friends closely.  Spread cheer wherever you can.  And laugh...laugh loudly and often. 

Laugh in the face of whatever life throws at you.  It really is the best way to the other side of the hurdle.