What happened to me
I love life and I love to laugh! I'm a singer / songwriter / musician / comedian. Okay, so my real job is being an Interpreter For the Deaf...but music & comedy are what I love to do, and I do it as often as I can!
I turned 50 this past July. Less than one month after my birthday, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I never saw *that* coming.
I had a bilateral mastectomy September 15th and went back for more surgery October 20th to remove additional cancerous lymph nodes. Now I'm awaiting the final pathology report and chemo.
But hey, even this doesn't take away my love of life and my love of laughter! You just Can't Keep A Good Woman Down!
What I learned
Wow, I had no idea I was so strong...but I've learned that I am! Who knew? Not that there haven't been tears, but when I was diagnosed, I made the crucial decision that I would not let this ruin me. I've learned that facing life's harsh realities is all in the attitude.
Because I love to do comedy (especially for women) I made up a whackload of great new boobie jokes, which I've told to the nurses, my doctor, my doctor's secretary, the anesthesiologist (just before he put me under), and anyone else who'll listen! (Example: "Let's not think of this as a bilateral mastectomy, people; let's call this "corporate downsizing")
I learned that you can become stronger still by reaching out to others, so I created "Adventures With Wendy" - a blog to encourage women (and men, also) who are struggling with cancer, other serious illnesses, or just with life in general:
http://wwwadventureswendy.blogspot.com
It's great therapy for me, and the feedback I'm getting tells me others are finding it therapeutic, too. I include inspiring stories, songs, quotes, insights and video clips.
It's fun to write and I'm learning what a wonderful privilege it is to help others.
What I wish I'd known then
It took this cancer to make me realize I needed to choose to have a good attitude towards life and its challenges. I wish I had incorporated this same attitude earlier in my life with other situations I've had to face.
Rather than wallowing in self-pity or succumbing to negative feelings, I could have had pep talks with myself and told myself the truth: that nothing, nothing, nothing in life can keep me down if I choose not to let it.
But it's never too late to learn life's lessons, is it?
I now realize that, as they say, it's not so much *what* happens to you as how you react to it. "You can tell how big a person is by what it takes to discourage him."
As for this chickie, it's gonna take more than a corporate downsizing to discourage me. Because, when all is said and done, you just Can't Keep A Good Woman Down!
