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I was diagnosed with breast cancer on April 28, 2020. I am an international marketing executive at a major Hollywood studio and travel was a big part of my work-life before the pandemic. I was in London the week before lockdown with colleagues from across Europe and Latin America. I landed on a Saturday and was driving to work on Monday when HR called me and told me to turn around, I was quarantined. I went back to work the next day and by Friday we were all told to work from home indefinitely. That was a year ago. My children were 2 and 5 when the pandemic started. My oldest son finished pre-school virtually and started Kindergarten virtually. His first day of "in person" school was this week (March 1st, 2021). I went through chemo in the summer of 2020. I worked part-time virtually. We didn't have child care because we couldn't risk having someone come into our home. So friends helped us, they played with the kids outside sometimes when I was feeling particularly terrible. My husband did a lot, too. Friends brought gifts, meals and support but no hugs, no chemo partners, I did it all on my own. Our friends came down from Portland, took COVID tests and quarantined for 2 weeks with us (and their 2 year old) so they could help during my surgery in October. It turned into 3 surgeries in October and November until they finally got all of the cancer. Then radiation was over the holidays; was burned terribly but at least we had Christmas in our driveway with masks with my husband's family. And a bouncy house for the kids. :). Thank goodness we live in Los Angeles, the weather is nice all the time so no one ever needs to come inside unless they are wearing a mask and need to use the restroom. We couldn't find antibacterial wipes or toilet paper or paper towels when this started. That's eased up now thankfully. We were worried about diapers and wipes, and food for the kids, but none of that came to be. We ordered toys from Amazon, groceries from Instacart, food delivery from UberEats. We take the kids to the playground now. And the zoo and aquarium. We feel like we know what to do to stay safe--always with masks, always outside, always with hand washing and sanitizing. It's normal now. I started a daily journal with photos and screenshots of the WHO website when the pandemic started. 1,000 cases worldwide, then 2,000. I never thought we'd be more than a million, more than 250,000 dead. That journal stopped in April with breast cancer; I had much more to worry about and I guess that's been a blessing. I'm a different person now than I was before. I eat well and exercise. I'm present for my children and not on the road. We have lunch and dinner together every day. We have a babysitter when my husband and I need to work. We've seen the worst of it hopefully. My parents lived with us until October 2019 and then they moved back to St. Louis. They were with my kids every day since they were born and now haven't seen them in more than a year. It's hard for them but they just got their first vaccine shot yesterday. Because of the cancer, I can get mine in another 2 weeks. I'm excited for life to get back to some version of normal but I really hope it's not the old normal. It wasn't working for any of us. I want to hold on to a lot of this new life, even when COVID is a distant memory.
March 5, 2021