Author Archives: Laurie

About Laurie

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2013. I was 39 years old and I couldn't believe it. Fortunately my doctor is amazing and I started treatment within 3 weeks of receiving my diagnosis. All of a sudden I was off work and my life became a whirlwind of doctor's appointments, blood tests and treatment. I immediately went into survival mode, I did what the doctors told me, went to my treatments and otherwise basically tried to ignore what was going on. I tried not to spend too much time thinking about what the diagnosis meant, although that was nearly impossible to do most days. As part of that, other than what the doctors told me, I didn't do any research and didn't want to talk about it. I spent most of the first two months doing nothing but watching TV and going to appointments. After the shock started to wear off I realized I wanted to know more about what was happening but there wasn't enough information available on the little things, those crazy side effects no one tells you about, or for younger people with cancer (young in the world of cancer means under 50). I also decided I needed to start doing more things to help make me happy other than just watching Harry Potter movies and Downton Abbey. One way I made it through was to still try and do the thing I love which is travel. Everyone needs to find something or someone they can turn to during their cancer journey, their happy place that makes them smile and feel like themselves. I had two things, traveling and spending time with my nieces. As a result, in my posts where I don't have a specific photo related to the post, I will be posting pictures from the trips I have taken since my diagnosis because they make me smile and hopefully they will make readers smile too. I'm writing this blog to share those experiences with others, to provide information on those annoying side effects you don't know about until you are in the whirlwind, and to share how I made it through which will hopefully help others, particularly younger people, who are diagnosed with cancer.