The Before Times

Before everything started, I was just normal and there really wasn’t anything all that special about me – I would consider myself to be a pretty normal Millennial living a very typical life:

• I graduated in 2019 with my MBA and was working on moving up the ladder just like every other almost 30-year-old professional. I was even working on how getting my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification so I could be even more valuable in the workplace.

• My husband and I had gotten married in November 2016 so 2021 was going to be our big 5-year wedding anniversary. After not really doing anything since our honeymoon, we wanted to make this anniversary special and go to Tokyo, Japan and we hoped that COVID times would be long over by the time our trip rolled around. It would have been our first time out of the country and, while we were planning on going with some of my husband’s family, I was adamant that we get to spend some time alone as well.

• COVID times had me working at home and that lack of commute freed up time for me to get back into some hobbies, discover some new ones, and focus on things that mattered to me, especially my health. Over the year 2020, I was able to lose 30 pounds and at an upcoming check-up with my Primary Care Physician, I was very excited to take a look at my bloodwork, show her my improvements, and continuing to maintain my revamped healthy lifestyle.

• I got back into reading through several excellent graphic novels and was getting back into reading full blown books for fun- when I was younger, I could almost always be found with a book. I also started working on my biggest cross-stitch project yet. Because COVID times took away many of the social activities that I was used to doing, my husband pushed me to get into streaming online via Twitch and so I decided to take the leap. Honestly, it was a lot of fun, not at all what I expected, and I have been having fun streaming ever since.

• I spent a lot of time with my friends and our cats. While I wasn’t particularly close to my parents or my in-laws, I was making a point to call more or visit them on a more regular basis. I enjoyed serving my community through Hispanic Womens Network of Texas, although truthfully, since I had moved to Dallas, it became pretty difficult to stay connected with my community. But I definitely wanted to try to get back into it.

• After pretty significant discussion, my husband and I decided that we wanted to try for our first child. Knowing that we were probably going to have to go through outside the “normal” channels, we sought out help via an IVF Doctor and began the process of trying to collect enough healthy embryos so we could try to have a baby. Something a lot of people don’t know about our relationship is that having a family is a key component. Both Adrian and I have always loved children; we enjoy watching them grow and discover over time. So we made the decision to start working through the scientific process after not having any luck using natural processes. This meant shots, a pretty significant amount of drugs, lots of money, lots of tears, body changes, and some mental health challenges but I was feeling positive and hopeful. Unfortunately, after 1 unsuccessful round with a price tag of over $5k & a physically and mentally exhausting process, we decided that I needed a break.

This is where my journey began – a normal person, living a pretty average life, chasing her dreams.

Thinking back about it now, it all feels so simple. Some of it even feels trivial and silly. At the time it definitely wasn't; all of these things that I was doing and moving forward with in my life were really important to me. I was totally CRUSHING IT! I mean look at this picture - I had my life together and Adrian and I were THRIVING!

Sometimes it seems odd to look at this photo - especially now. I really feel kind of sad - they have no idea what's right around the corner and while they made the best decisions they could at the time, I wish they could have been more prepared for what was coming....

NOTE: I'm going to be doing a mix of looking back at my first walk down the cancer road and where I am now. Please note - all of these are my feelings and thoughts. Like with everything with cancer, my experience is my experience - it is probably going to look different for everyone.

That being said, I am interested to hear from others about how they are doing and what they went through so feel free to comment or send me an email. Inspirational quotes or funny videos or offensive jokes are my favorite.

Talk to you soon!

OLIVIA