Written By: Anne Kiernan, Ms. August
Little notes from a conversation that changed my life: We moved recently, and I found this half page of notes. I was diagnosed on New Year’s Eve 2020, and my surgeon did me the great kindness of calling me from her cell phone so I wouldn’t have to go through the holiday weekend without knowing if I truly had cancer. I took these notes during that phone call. For some reason finding this page in the mess of my kitchen is emotional for me. It brings me back to that moment of being newly diagnosed. I see the pen strokes of my younger self and can feel the surprise and fear and calm before the storm. I was pregnant at the time diagnosis. I was able to give birth at 36 weeks, and have my partial mastectomy 1 week later. I started chemo 4 weeks later. It was a scary time of life and everything felt so heavy. Yet, Two years later I find this memento of that season, not quite discarded, but not held in reverence. It is among half packs of stickers and subjected to the artistic stylings of my very healthy now-toddler. Time, she keeps moving. Hard seasons end, and you get stronger.
