This past week I visited friends in San Francisco I haven’t seen in over 4 years. Everything in my life was put on hold during my year of treatment for breast cancer. Last year I finally had enough energy to think about traveling across the country. But then my stupid ovaries had other plans, and I had to cancel that trip to have an oophorectomy.

Not wanting to jinx anything, I couldn’t seem to rebook my trip in fear of something else happening. Well, after several uneventful months with no health news, I made some plans to finally take that cross country trip.

I was excited but a bit nervous before I left.

Was I going to be overwhelmed by emotions when I saw all these friends?

Was I going to have the stamina and energy to see everyone I wanted to see?

Would it be too uncomfortable for people to hear an honest account of what being a breast cancer patient and survivor is really like?

Once I arrived in San Francisco, I caught up with a lot of dear friends and this anxiety quickly faded away. I’ve been very lucky in my life to be surrounded by caring, thoughtful and kind friends. And this trip only emphasized this fact. I don’t know if its our age, or my cancer diagnosis, but conversations with these friends this past week were deeper and more heart-felt than ever. Everyone wanted to know how I was doing. How I was really doing.

How does my body feel?

How does it feel to have breast implants?

Is my chemo brain still lingering?

Is my energy level back?

How is my mental health?

Is my life getting back to ‘normal’?

Is it possible to get back to ‘normal’ after a breast cancer diagnosis?

I had dinner one night with a dear friend who is also a breast cancer survivor. We were friends before either of us got diagnosed and now we’re even closer, having both gone through the trauma of breast cancer. I told her that although life is getting back to somewhat normal, I live with what I like to call the ‘new shitty normal’ because of breast cancer. My life changed, and not because I wanted it to but because of cancer. And these changes were not temporary, but permanent. No more explanation was needed for this friend. She understood what I meant.

All of the conversations last week with friends meant so much to me. There were lots of teary moments. Nothing in life is guaranteed, and we all know that. But when it hits that close to home, you really get it. My friends all really got it too.

So while I left for San Francisco feeling nervous and a bit anxious, I returned home feeling so grateful to have amazing friends in my life. And when I said goodbye to these friends after our visit, we hugged each other a littler longer than usual and a little tighter than usual.

And that felt great.