We talk about cancer anniversaries and how we celebrate.

Diagnosis is a pretty arbitrary date: it’s way after you STARTED being sick, and way before you are DONE being sick-- it’s a celebration of discovering what’s wrong with us?

Mourn your 1.0 self and life -- ceremony or a formal remembrance/farewell can be useful.

Maybe your celebration is forgetting about it.

Some people don’t feel safe enough to celebrate -- the chance of recurrence.

Cancerversaries can be a reminder of how your options have become limited.

Schedule exams on your cancerversary -- (Leanna gets a mammogram on her diagnosis anniversary--NOT an annual mastectomy).

Use your cancerversary to mourn those who’ve died.

Statistics mean something, but they might not mean anything FOR YOU --don’t hide behind the statistics.

Get ready to be nervous -- planning for the future and figure out what’s next.

Beware of your teenage self: she might have ambitions beyond your old wet damp dishrag of an adult self.

Think about what you are celebrating: the future and the amazing YOU!

Take comfort in the “vague” and “abstract,” because that’s how it comes sometimes.