By Raquel Gonzales
The worst part was over: finding the lump and being officially diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 35.
Really, that was the hardest part.
My husband and I tried hard to avoid going into treatment but after a lot of testing and crying from one opinion to the next; it was confirmed that I would need chemo. It was one March ago.
I had a pre-chemo party. I dyed my hair the pinkest pink anyone can think of and I promised my body that we would be alright. Off to war I went and I got called a warrior and a hero even though I got no f-ing say in any of this (besides making medical decisions).
Saying it was a nightmare could easily describe our eventful 2018, but I’d be ungrateful if I fully labeled it that way: My body didn’t fight like a girl, it fought like a woman.
There was growth as a person, as a woman, as a wife / mother and as an entrepreneur. For the best and for the worst; it was a life changing experience.
I usually get those Facebook memory notifications and I sigh at the long hair that I had. People would imagine that I sigh at the memory of the length of it but I actually sigh because it seems like it was ages ago. I look at those memories and I know that the long haired woman is gone and that whatever worries she had back then were eventually laughed at by a braver version of me.
I now have annoying cool rebel hair that turns ‘into a pumpkin’ as soon as I go to sleep. Ha! How I wake up every morning!
This past March I raise my glass to welcome better times, unmanageable growing curls, health, a kick-ass-moving-forward attitude and the new opportunity to become the woman I always wanted to be.
Raquel Gonzales is a cancer thriver, mother and handbag designer. Check out her beautiful work here: http://www.raquelgonzalezshop.com/
Comments