When I couldn’t do anything physically for my friends and family, I made sure that I let them talk about their lives, asked questions that were focused on them and not me. I know my husband was very overwhelmed by the burden of caring for me when I could barely get up to go to the bathroom by myself. I listened to him vent. I tried to imagine what it was like for him to have so much on his shoulders. He knew that was all I could do and he didn’t want to burden me more than I was burdened with the fight for my life.

When I began to get out of bed, I started cooking meals in a crockpot. It was so simple to just throw everything into a pot and let it cook. I had so sit down every few minutes to rest, but I felt good about doing something tangible for my family.