It’s difficult to even describe the series of events since I’ve last posted. But I’ll attempt to give you the Cliff Notes version.
Let’s start with 2018. A tumultuous year, to be certain, ending with a Category 5 hurricane. I could have never grasped the impact that a storm would have on so many areas of so many lives. This led to a lot of pivots in my personal life, as well as professionally.
2019 can only be described as the year of trying to make it through. I don’t even remember that much of 2019, other than leaving my job and petsitting full time. I could relate to the pets, who had suffered the same trauma as the people. It felt important to work through this together with these sweet animals. The other milestone was that I turned 50 this year and ended up on my first cruise with my cousins and some other relative. This was easily the highlight of 2019.
That brings us to 2020. Thing were starting to turn around and I felt ready to return to the world. I was even planning a trip to Universal Studios at the end of March 2020. Enter the COVID-19 pandemic to squash any idea of traveling or doing anything fun. But I was also looking to get back on track with my career, but needed to figure out how to do that in the midst of a pandemic. This was when my first stroke of good luck occurred when I ran across a Facebook ad titled, “How to say yes to any WordPress request” that lead to enrolling in WP Rockstar, a course designed to start your own business as a WordPress Developer. Best. decision. ever.
So, the end of 2020 was starting to look up. A month into starting WP Rockstar, I was offered a part-time position with GeekPack®, the company behind WP Rockstar, helping in a customer support capacity, helping answer questions from other students and troubleshooting WordPress issues. I was made for this and thus began the best “job” I’ve ever had. I wake up grateful every day to not only be working for the best team, but connecting with an amazing community of people.
This brings us to New Year’s Eve, 2020. Things are going great, right? I’ve been doing a lot of petsitting and the weather has been cold and rainy. I’m feeling a little rundown and have a nagging cough, but I’m looking forward to January 3rd, when I’ll have some much deserved time off. Life had other plans.
11:45 on NYE, I’m tired and decide to go to bed, as I have to get up early for dog walks on New Year’s Day. As soon as I rolled over, I have shooting pain all throughout my torso. Then I’m hit with a wave of nausea that turned into non-stop vomiting until 5:30 in the morning. I know something is severally wrong, so I call my parents at 5:55 am and off to the hospital I go.
After scans and exploratory surgery, it’s discovered that I have an infected ovary (which they removed), stage 3 colon cancer, pneumonia, and severe anemia. I’m in need of blood transfusions and end up with a blood infection and two pulmonary embolisms that nearly land me in ICU. Two months later, I suffer an abscess, requiring another emergency surgery and hospital stay, along with a wound vac. Good times.
I have 3 months of chemo, followed by a huge HIPEC surgery at Moffitt Cancer Center in September 2021. I’m declared cancer-free and get to ring that bell!
Things start out great for 2022. I love my work and I’m promoted to Customer Success Manager. I feel great and I’m able to do some traveling. I’m feeling good going into my one-year anniversary of the surgery that removed the cancer. In October, I go to Moffitt for scans and for my “all clear” declaration by my surgeon. Unfortunately, the scans showed some “concerning” spots in my liver, lung, and abdominal wall. More scans, doctor’s visits, and a biopsy ensue and it’s confirmed that the cancer is back as stage 4 colon cancer.
I’ve started a new chemo and will get rescanned after 3 months. There is good news here, as the cancer was caught very early and the spots in the lung and liver are quite small. The surgeon believes the chemo will kill those two spots off and he can remove the spot in my abdominal muscle. He sees the goal of getting me back to cancer-free status by the end of the year.
So, that’s life in a nutshell. Aside of the cancer, things are going great. And I’m a Capitals hockey fan now and I love my three new cats. Stay tuned, I promise not to stay away some long.
