Thankful, Grateful, Blessed
This blog post is different from my usual posts. On this Thanksgiving Day, I want to express how thankful, grateful, and blessed I am.
God
Thankful: I thank God for answering multitudes of prayers on my behalf for recovery from breast cancer.
Grateful: I am grateful for the opportunity to encourage other cancer patients and their supporters along your cancer journey with this blog.
Blessed: I have been blessed with good health since recovering from breast cancer nearly seven years ago. (Read: The Day I Met Cancer in the Mirror)
Doctors and Nurses:
Thankful: I am thankful for the doctors and nurses who dedicate their careers to helping cancer patients. As a nurse myself, I realize how emotionally exhausting it is to care for chronically ill patients. Yet these professionals work selfishly to make our lives better in the most trying of times.
Grateful: I am grateful for Dr. H, Dr. K, and Dr. T, among others, who were instrumental in my recovery. Each one of these doctors was encouraging, knowledgeable, and supportive, yet they never sugar-coated what I would go through during chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation treatments.
I am grateful to each of the nurses who cared for me as a patient yet acknowledged me as a colleague. For me, it was very surreal to be a patient in the bed instead of a nurse at the bedside.
Blessed: I am blessed to continue to receive great care from medical professionals. I still go through testing and follow-up care, even though I am no longer actively going through cancer treatments.
Family and Friends:
Thankful: I am thankful to each and every one of you who helped me in any way during my illness. From the stranger in the craft store who encouraged me when she saw my ball cap with the pink ribbon on it covering my bald head, to the kind person who anonymously paid for my meal at the restaurant, to each person who wished me well.
Grateful: I am grateful to my family and friends who supported me while I went through breast cancer treatments. For my wonderful husband who was by my side at every appointment and through every treatment. To my family members who came from several different states to support me. And for my friends who came to visit me and texted me funny texts to keep my spirits up.
Blessed: I am blessed beyond words because you are in my life.
You:
And I am thankful to each one of you who faithfully read my blog posts. I am grateful for your support and encouragement. But most of all, I am blessed to encourage those of you who are going through cancer treatments and to support your supporters with advice for ways I was able to support MAB while each of them went through cancer. (Read: Who is MAB?)
Of course, none of us are ever thankful to have cancer. But we are grateful to those of you who help us get through it and blessed to be able to help someone else along their cancer journey.
As a token of my gratitude to all of you, I have made some fun printables for you to download. You do not need to sign up for anything. Just click on the link below to access the free file.
Wishing you all the best,
Kelly
Are your cancer screenings up to date?
Yes, I am a nurse. No, I am not your nurse. The medical topics discussed in this, or any article on this site, are intended to be issues for you to discuss with your medical team if you feel they apply to you. None of the information you are about to read in this article is treatment advice for you from me. I do not have that authority.
Hi, I’m Kelly. I am here to help you and your loved ones navigate your cancer journey with information and encouragement.
I have been both a cancer patient and a cancer patient supporter. I get what you, the cancer patient, are going through. But I also get what you, the cancer patient supporters, are going through.
I wish I could take this nightmare you are experiencing and turn it into a pleasant dream.
But I can’t.
So, what I can do instead is infuse as much hope and determination as is possible into this website for you. Here you have a place to find inspiration and support. A place to turn the chaos of cancer care into clarity.
Yes, I am a nurse. No, I am not your nurse. The medical topics discussed in this article are intended to be issues for you to discuss with your medical team if you feel they apply to you. None of the information you read in this article is treatment advice for you from me. I do not have that authority.