A Quick word of thanks…

Embracing the Teaching Moments

Cancer teaches you a lot about who you are.

I’ve heard this sentiment before, but it rolled right past me. My teaching moments, at the time, were elsewhere. Perhaps today, your moments are full, your time is short, and the idea of slowing down for a teaching moment makes you cringe.

But the Universe is a bit tricky.

And my body isn’t that unlike yours. Only one of my melanocytes “gave up the ghost” so to speak, turned dark and gnarly, and began growing deeper than my skin. It only took one, with a high mitosis rate, and the cancer was on its way.

It created a pocket of cancerous cells, ready to infiltrate throughout my body.

That could happen to you, too.

It only took 8 weeks to fester into a spreading cancer. One flat mole turned into a whole “ordeal”.

People keep saying to me—I’m so sorry! I thought they’d get all the cancer in the surgery. I’m so sorry you have to do cancer treatments!“

Cancer is a teaching moment, indeed, for us all.

Here’s the long and short of it…think of it like picking apples.

The beautiful ones are tasty, and enrich our lives. The sour ones surprise us, waking our senses to something unexpected. The rotted fruit, well, there’s teaching in those too. That everything in life takes up space. Eats. Thrives, even in tough conditions.

The rotted fruit takes over the ground if you don’t take the time to pick them up, toss them in the compost bin, and keep the ground cleared.

Spring is coming and you should have clear spaces for thriving.

What You Should Know About Melanoma Skin Cancer

• Skin cancer is serious.
• Skin cancer that’s melanoma, is the most serious.
• Melanoma can metastacize in as few as 6 weeks.
• Approximately 8,430 people will die from melanoma in the United States this year.
• If caught early, melanoma is survivable.
• The 5-year survival rate for a melanoma caught before it metastacizes is about 98%. With every day and week that passes without seeing the doctor…that number goes down.
• Make an appointmet TODAY with a dermatologist. It’s not super expensive to have a full-body skin check.

Identifying Melanoma Skin Cancer | How it Happened for Me

My melanoma went from a flat, brownish mole to a prodtruding blackened, splitting, oozy, VERY ITCHY mole very quickly. (But it doesn’t always happen in this manner. Sometimes, they are quite silent and unnoticeable.)

Here’s how to identify melanoma.

In October 2024, I was fine. In January, 2025 I was diagnosed with stage 2B melanoma cancer, and had excision surgery, after which I was moved to stage 3C.

5-year survival rate for a 3C melanoma = 69%.

The surgery got ALL the cancer. But, melanoma is like “Whack-a-mole.” It comes back, often aggressively. So, to prepare my body for what may be a very long battle, we are doing every-six-week immunotherapy treatments with Keytruda.

So far, so good.

Just the word cancer is terrifying. The words “treatment” and “infusions” are scary. My doctor has me using MyChart, and every time I see the appointment for my infusions it says “CHEMO TREATMENT”. I am not receiving chemo drugs, but the coding is the same. Just one more scary thing to jolt my body and mind into this reality:

Life is truly short.

And my response—the life lesson I promised you today (besides getting your butt to a dermatologist)—is this:

Make it meaningful.

You might think that cancer would make you want to quit your job, go into seclusion. Or toss everything to the wind and travel. Or grab some Jack Daniels and make a go of it. (All of these things enter your mind.)

For me, the most prevailing reaction (besides a healthy dose of fear) were:

👩🏽‍💻I’ve valued my work, more.

💭I’ve valued my quiet time, alone, more.

💗I’ve missed my grandhildren, more.

It’s made me appreciate the life that I have right now. Not the future life I’ve always fought for.

You get one good life, with all its ups and downs, with bright and shiny red, green, and gold apples! Sure, some of them fall too soon and get pecked or worm-eaten.

Make those count too.

You get one good life—with the good parts and the bad ones—make it all count.

Thanks for spending this moment with me today.

I am off to do about 7-8 hours of copywriting for my (AMAZING) clients, who listen when I say today I am taking it easy (Keytruda makes you very tired) or when I throw myself into a long “catch-up” day and message them at 9 PM with a question.

I’m grateful for the daily work, but also for the poets and creatives who after six years in this business are still bringing me their creative projects to edit. (Sorry for the waiting list!)

I am grateful, and thankful, that balancing work and life (with cancer treatments) is DO-able.

I’m also grateful for having a heart that leans toward “picking the positives” out of my moments. It’s an attitude that’s served me well in a very competitive business. And, it’s an attitude that is serving me well through cancer infusions.

Trust the process. Make it meaningful.

(And, make your derm appointment. Pretty please.)

Love, in words,

Christina M Ward
Freelance writer & copyeditor with FFWS

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