[2022-02-14] Appreciation for the ones we love
Valentine's Day isn't just for lovers. It's a day to appreciate the people we love and who love us.
My husband has supported me through more than a year and a half of cancer treatments and recovery, taking me to appointments and caring for me as I recuperated from surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation. Throughout this time, he has accepted my limitations and appreciated what I could do. His love has been a constant, not just in the last 18 months but throughout our relationship.
My kids have provided additional emotional and physical support, taking on responsibilities when I couldn't and commiserating with me as I experienced nausea, pain and impatience. They have accepted me for what I've been able to do. They have served as reviewers of my blog posts and visuals. Above all, they have expressed their infinite love.
Other family members have checked in with me regularly to see how I was doing, offered professional advice and moral support, dropped off food and gifts and stuff for my garden, facilitated visits while protecting my health, and celebrated milestones in my cancer journey.
Friends, colleagues and new acquaintances have sent and dropped off gifts, food, flowers, books, pillows, pyjamas, cards, decorations, stamps, tickets to online concerts and so many more things. They have provided innumerable messages of support, encouragement, humour and congratulations. They have liked, shared and commented thousands of times on my blog posts. They have shared their own stories, confiding in me how my experience has spurred them to take action in their own lives. They have revealed details of their own cancer journeys, helping me to face the side effects of treatment, to make decisions to further protect my health, and to maintain hope. And they have communicated the ups and downs of their lives because my life should never be exclusively about cancer.
On this Valentine's Day, I want to say thank you to everyone I love and who loves me. I am extremely grateful for your support.
