@korinja I found myself getting tearful as I read your story. Like you, I've experienced cancer that eventually took the lives of both of my parents, aunts, and cousins. My brother and I had often said to one another about cancer- "It's not why me? It's why not me?". I was diagnosed with endometrial cancer in 2019 and just a year later my brother was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Within one year of one another we both went through the frightening diagnostic process, deciding on how to treat, and then the same year we both had recurrences and we both had radiation therapy. And here we both are 5 years later following our own respective cancer surveillance schedules. This is not something I recommend sharing with a sibling but our lives were certainly changed.

And now here you are. I'm grateful that you had expert care at Mayo. I'm grateful that you are here to tell your story and how you decided you would fight cancer. Your final paragraph says it all. That angry and pessimistic person is no longer you. You are the person who takes walks with your puppy on the trails. (Your puppy reminds me of my friends' dog I used to take care of when they traveled. Their dog was a Teddy Bear mix and was quite the scamp). You approach your future tentatively and with hope.

What else do you like to? Do you like to read? Fiction? Non-fiction? If yes, what are you reading now?