Attitude and mindset help determine how we experience life. I thought I had the right mindset going into my assessments at the Cross Cancer Institute these last few days. To my surprise, I did not. Back in 2018, coming off a traumatic diagnosis and a painful hospital stay, entering the Cross symbolized a turning point. Things were going to get better. I had a chance of returning to a new normal that would be good. And that is exactly what unfolded. Almost three years of remission were a treasure, even if the Covid virus altered how we could live them. This time, walking through the doors of that place where life and death live side be side, where healing and heartache sit in the same waiting room, it was not the same. I did not want to be there. It did not occupy a space of hope in my brain (yet). I was a "well" person entering into the land of the unwell. I was once again adding the words "cancer patient" to my identity descriptors. I didn't want to be a pat...
Brian’s diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma was in May 2018. The initial treatment was a stem cell transplant. After 30 months there was a relapse, followed by chemo, another relapse, new chemo and yet another relapse. In January 2024, the 4th treatment began. Brian currently gets weekly injections of an immunotherapy drug. Sometimes we keep the faith and sometimes we need family and friends around us to keep the faith for us. This blog is about enabling us all to be kept in the faith.