Once upon a time there lived a New York-born 30 something, who loved dogs more than people, planned adventures to far away places, and had an inexplicable addiction to candy corn. She dreamed of buying and fixing up a huge old house, retiring to her favourite place in the world (Newport, RI) and raising kids and a posse of rescue dogs with her Prince Charming.

 

She spent her life living cautiously and healthy: never going sky diving or bungy jumping, always trying to eat well and work out regularly, not smoking or using drugs recreationally, and always applying sunscreen (albeit sometimes a bit patchy).   Her extreme Type A personality and obsession with perfection had served her well as long as she could remember- she flew through school with perfect grades, got into her college and grad school of choice, had a great group of friends and a vibrant social life, adopted the furry love of her life at 23, landed her dream job at 26, got married and bought a house (not that dream house mentioned above) at 29, and was expecting a baby boy at 30. Then at the age of 31 and at 33 weeks pregnant after finding a suspicious-looking mole, she was diagnosed with the least common and most aggressive form of skin cancer: melanoma.

This blog is my journey through my diagnosis and treatment, how it's changed my life and the life of those around me. Although it is an outlet for me to express things too hard to talk about, I hope that it helps, even just a little, anyone reading it who is going through something similar, as I know first hand how lonely this journey can be despite being surrounded by loving and supportive people.

For those thinking, "is this a doom and gloom blog?", I promise my posts won't all be tear jerkers, and hopefully more often than not draw a few smiles, but most importantly I promise to be brutally honest. However, if you are looking for a read that preaches "always stay positive" and fighting cancer is like dancing with unicorns in a flurry of glitter, then I won't be offended if you click the little x" box in the top right corner of your screen.

 

Also, as I've just started this blog and it's seven months after my diagnosis, my post won't always be a chronological. There will be quite a bit of backtracking.