Milestones and More
Maybe it is due to the fact that I was a student for so long (K-12, then approximately 19 years of college), but August is filled with a lot of milestones for me...
15 years ago, I moved left home (Missouri) and moved to Maryland to start my “last” academic adventure...
4 years ago, I had my preventive surgery to remove my ovaries and Fallopian tubes to lessen my chances of ovarian cancer...
3 years ago, I started my current job at a place where I get to embed health equity (and all that goes with it) into policies and programs that impact 1 in 3 Americans...
And 5 years ago TODAY, I received my diagnosis of Stage 2 Breast Cancer.
5 years is a big deal. As I shared previously, the 5 year mark means my chances of recurrence are less than 1% now.
I am marking this ‘anniversary’ by changing the title and a bit of the focus of this blog. As I explained to the godaddy representative all those years ago, I chose the name ‘Educator as Patient’ because, I'm an educator undergoing treatment for cancer.
And while I’m still an educator at heart, but I am prepared to shed my patient moniker. I am ready to practice falling up in during this next phase of life. For while there is nothing normal about this new, it is a new chapter.
So going forward, I am going to return to my blogging ways but now focusing on what falling up looks like, in terms of my mental, social, physical, and spiritual health.
Want to ask me a question? You can do that here. Want to share your story about survivorship? You can do that here.
You all have been great as I have crossed many milestones, so I hope you will continue on this ride as I look to create and mark many more.
xoxo
d
