Hello out there, how are you doing? I hope you and yours are well. I also hope you always have your favourite hot beverage to the rescue when life gets challenging. And a friend or family member too. 

For all those who don’t know me yet: In January, my doctors diagnosed me with cancer. I spent February and most of March at appointments to find out how bad and where it came from because it was “unsuspected” as they said. It turned out to be breast cancer (two tumours, one of which was the primary one). 

At the end of March, I was lucky to have an operation in which they took out both tumours, and my lymph nodes as five of them were affected. The fear is that the cancer has spread to other parts even though the hospital hasn’t found any other tumours yet. I should have started chemotherapy last week but could not because I developed an infection. I got antibiotics and see the doctors on Monday the 4th of May to find out if I can start or not. 

For a couple of months now, I am figuring out how I can beat cancer besides the treatment I get from the hospital. I assume that I have better chances if I do not give cancer too much attention, and do something I love to keep me occupied. And I love blogging. So I do it as much as I can.

You can see it on my “Bee Wordless” Blogger blog: Originally, I “just” wanted to do “Wordless Wednesday” posts. However, one of my missions is to spread some kindness, and one of my passions is photography. I try to take a daily photo and share it with family and friends on WhatsApp with a little message that I think of them. This habit made me think; I could do that on one of my blogs too. So I did, and you can find the latest here. 

Another one of my passions is poetry. In 2014 and 2015, I did a project to write a poem a day, and it somehow became a habit later on. I share some of them on a fellow bloggers blog (find them here on Carol Anne’s “Therapy Bits”), and they are popular. Which made me think: “Why shouldn’t I spread the joy further?” Again, so I did. Now, I am not superwoman and can write daily poetry posts on two blogs. That is why I re-purpose some on my Weebly blog “The Bee Creates“.

But the project I am most excited about is “Come Away With Me” here on my WordPress blog. Over the years I have taken part in several music blog projects from “Song Lyric Sunday” to “Love Is In Da Blog“. While most bloggers shared the music they’ve always liked, I became bored and wanted to discover music from other countries. YouTube had suggested some exciting Scandinavian artists to me, which made me wonder what sort of music other countries are listening. So I started to blog about them last December on “Music Monday“. Later on, I re-named it “Come Away With Me Musical Challenge“. For the next couple of years, I am going to write about a musician from a different country every Monday. I’ll also share some video’s to get an idea about the country we visit. You can even take part with your blog if you like.

I am not sure, if all these creative endeavours will get me through cancer treatment, but I feel it is definitely better than feeling sorry for myself. One thing I do not want to miss either in my blogging is JoAnna’s Good News Tuesday. That is why I am going to share a Good News Story for the end of this blog post.

I am looking for alternative ways to support my cancer treatment and this story made me think a lot:

This post takes part in “Good News Tuesday” inspired by JoAnna on “Anything Possible”. I found this story over at YouTube. Please head over to JoAnna and find more uplifting news.

So, I let you go to whatever is up at your agenda. Take care of yourselves and be kind not only to others but also to yourself. Happy Tuesday despite everything.