Yesterday was a day I won’t soon forget. I walked into my doctor’s office, a familiar place by now, yet this visit carried a weight I wasn’t fully prepared for. The words that followed hit me like a ton of bricks: minor congestive heart failure.
Now, for some, this might have been a devastating blow, but for me, it was a reminder of a journey I’ve been on for the past 30 years.
Three decades ago, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer that was incurable at that time. The doctors gave me a grim prognosis, telling me I had only two weeks to live. I thanked them for sharing their truth but it certainly wasn’t going to be my truth. I fought tooth and nail, choosing health the majority of the time in each decision I made - what I ate, who I hung out with, how I exercised.
When I heard those words about my heart, it didn’t come as a total surprise because one of the chemotherapy drugs damages the heart and I knew something was amiss. I did crash and burn yesterday but woke up this morning in a familiar place, a place where I knew I had two choices (we always have at least 2 choices). I could either take those words to heart (pun intended) and live by them and have them run my live or I could be thankful. Thankful for my life right now.
I’ve learned that life is full of choices, and we always have the power to choose how we respond. I chose to believe that not only can I live with this diagnosis but I can thrive. That’s what the last 30 years taught me.
So to anyone who’s received a scary diagnosis or found themselves facing unexpected obstacles, I offer this advice: Be with it. Mourn it. And then, get back to living your life. You get to choose what to do with the diagnosis and it’s up to you. Just know that you are stronger than you think, wiser than you know and you get to determine what happens now. Right now. What will you eat, how will you spend your day, who will you love?
And as for me, I’m choosing to thrive – just as I have for the past 30 years. So here’s to life, in all its beautiful, messy, unpredictable glory. May we never forget the power we hold within us to choose it, every single day.
Changing the world one tasty bite at a time,
Dr. Deb
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