Colon Cancer at 34

34 My year of cancer A year I hope stops by my artificially placed deadline.  A year filled with 3 ER trips, 4 hospital stays, 11 rounds of FOLFOX, 9 of Panitumumab, and 2 surgeries.  A year mostly on medical leave which I'm so thankful for, but could have handled sticking to my previous life's routine A year I'm reflecting on while sitting in my step down ICU room post CRS/HIPEC and resection. I got to enjoy many things, while taking in the rough times.   A year filled with high points like my expanded support system, time with my parents, house projects being completed, reengaging in photography, a new kid who picked me, and learning to read my physical signs.   A year filled with low points like side effects, uncertainty for now and in the future, and struggles finding working pain meds after surgery.   A year refocusing my life on what matters.  A year I only survived cause of my faith in God and learning to give it all to Him. ...

 Six years ago I opened my two bedroom apartment door to foster teens, specifically one girl above the age of 12.  Five years later I closed my four bedroom house door after welcoming 9 kids, sometimes 2 or 3 at a time and 2 boys in.  Since closing in October to focus on relationships, overtime, and the relationship with my first foster child who aged out, I had only two months before cancer knocked on my door instead.   January 3rd, after one day of school, I ended up in the hospital with a softball sized tumor.  Surgery was scheduled for February, but quickly bumped up after every day I went to work ended with an ER trip.  I could barely walk some days and my energy was so low that I needed help with my Instrumental Activities of Daily Living.  Cooking for myself was more difficult if not impossible depending on pain levels.  I couldn't drive to the hospital as my doctors were 50 miles away and I wasn't sure how much the ambulance ride I ha...

 For Christmas this year I ordered a light for the closet and 100 matching hangers.  I was finally going to make my space look organized and turn it into an adult space.   This school year I started loving my school "uniform"... dress with shorts or leggings on and comfortable shoes.  Unless it was a day we could dress down and all those tshirts (SpEd dept, Math dept, general teacher, union, and district colors) were in one row of my dresser drawer to easily grab.  Choosing these outfits meant I could easily sleep in until 20 minutes before I left to get to school... arriving ~15 minutes before school started.   Over Christmas break I had started changing out dresses onto the new hangers, then I ended up in the ER after the first day back to school from break.  So the project sat waiting until I had enough energy and could bend to do it.  Two weeks later, right before surgery, I was able to finish that project.  I had desired to go ...

When I started my health journey January 3rd this year one of the things I wondered was the financial costs I would encounter.  I had been working on my finances and organization really intentionally since 2020 and wanted guidance on this next phase of life.  However, I couldn't find much support for how to spend my medical leave of absence as a productive person or what costs to expect as I ultimately was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer at 34.  So I'm going to blog my perspective as a Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) with cancer so others can hopefully learn from it.  While I knew I had health insurance from my job as a high school special education teacher, I wasn't sure what it included beyond doctor appointments.  I had never needed to go to the ER or hospital for myself (just for my foster teens who had their own insurance).  As I rode in the ambulance early in the morning on the 4th to a higher quality hospital, I wondered how much the ride would ...