I was in good health before my cancer diagnosis, which made it even harder to believe. I never thought it could happen to me. (I'm sure I'm not alone there.) I don't look (or act) my age, and people are always surprised when my age comes up. Sometimes I'm surprised, too, when I think about it. Lol.

I've gone through major depression in my early life and somehow got over it. Now I try to stay positive and find it's the only way I can deal sensibly with whatever comes along. But with cancer it takes an entire team and, for most of us, we've been in excellent hands. My cancer treatment took place in two different states at two different cancer centers and the love and care was just amazing at both.

I'm happy to talk to anyone about cancer, but with the reservation that we're not all alike, and neither are our cancers. I grew up in a time when the word wasn't even uttered out loud, and when cancer patients were shunned because so many thought cancer was contagious. We're fortunate to live in a time when breast cancer deaths are rare now, and treatment is as much empathy-based as it is technological.