One of the best blessings I have had through cancer is having the best partner in life, the best caregiver one can ask for, my significant other Ammie, without her this experience would have been ten times harder. I will forever be grateful for having her in my life, what she has endured with me so far is amazing.

Let me tell you a little about how amazing this relationship is. Ammie and I have been working together in our own separate business for nearly three to four years and towards the end of those years and especially though COVID is when we began to develop the friendship we have today. Our friendship has truly been what has brought us together. We went from friends to becoming more than friends to living together to I have cancer in a matter of 2 to 3 months. Now ask yourselves how many people would have stayed after discovering that in their newly discovered relationship their partner has cancer. I mean she immediately would become my caregiver since we had already been living together, but the relationship was so new, only 2 to 3 months. What would we do?

How could we possibly make it through this? How difficult would it be to have a new relationship thrive despite the adversity that we were about to face? How difficult would it be to become a caregiver to someone who has never had to really care for someone else?

Despite the upcoming circumstances she has become the best caregiver I can ever ask for. She takes the time to make sure that she comes with me to every doctor’s appointment, makes sure she understands every part of my treatment. She’s there to follow up with every appointment and every call. She makes sure that we have what we need at home. She checks up on me constantly, not just to see if I’m in pain but to see how I’m doing mentally, how I’m holding up? She’s learned what she needs to do to not just take care of me but of herself too.
I see everyday the effort that she puts in to make sure we have what we need.

Our relationship continues to grow because from the beginning we’re a team. I do my best to do my part as well when I can as often as I can. Although, I sometimes trap myself in my own thoughts and don’t communicate all the time I do my best to connect with her when I see the stress levels go up and they do. It’s important to us to spend the time to talk about what’s next, plan ahead the best you can. In our case it’s still important to schedule a date night, a walk on the beach, anything that can remind us that we care about each other and take our minds away from cancer and caregiving.

For those of you that have a caregiver in your life, don’t ever forget how important it is for you to show your gratitude. It can be as simple as a thank you or saying I love you. But it is also doing what you can when you can. You might not be able to get up most days but on the days you can… go wash the dishes… LOL. Your caregiver doesn’t always need to do everything for you. The dishes are just an example, the point is do something that helps contribute to something that must get done every day. Your caregiver isn’t a hired nurse or a maid, it’s someone who loves you enough to aid in your care.

I began this blog by saying how grateful I am to have Ammie in my life. We just went through a difficult six months of chemo treatment, just to discover that it’s not over. Now we probably have another 6 months of treatment headed our way. We realize that we need to adjust our life again and mentally prepare ourselves for what is to come. It’s going to be difficult, but we have each other, our families and supportive friends to help us through plus now we hope to establish an online community that we could connect with. We look forward to sharing more with you soon.