pan·dem·ic /panˈdemik/ - adjective (of a disease) prevalent over a whole country or the world.

The week of March 8th was a doozy - the clocks went forward an hour, there was a full moon and a Friday the 13th. This was definitely all a sign of what we were all about to experience in this life.

Monday March 16th. Things were weird going to work that day. A lot of places had started to voluntarily close down. It had been announced by the World Health Organization that we were officially in a Pandemic with the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

At work we watched Prime Minister Trudeau speak about business operations and what could and couldn't stay open. By mid afternoon it was decided, work was going to close down and we were all going to be laid off. With everything I had going on privately (there was no way I could tell anyone at work about this!) I panicked. I knew if I was to apply for EI that I would be forced onto maternity leave benefits early and as of March 2021 would have no income and a baby that was about 9-10 months old. Wait - my doctor had written me off of work at the beginning of the month (you know, all the stress I was under from just a couple things going on) that I told myself if I got to a point I would use (I was trying to use work as a distraction from everything else happening so I hadn't yet). I explained to my boss that I had this and asked if they would allow me to use this so I wouldn't get screwed over. I was told absolutely - WHEW. Okay, so now this is it. I'm done work for maybe 2 weeks and then we'll reevaluate from there right?

LOL.

I needed to take this opportunity. I needed to take this time at home to relax, let myself rest and not get caught up in the C word. Luckily, Ty's daycare was able to stay open so we could continue sending him there to keep him in a routine and allow me to rest.

March 19th - I got the call from Juravinski. My appointment was going to be Monday March 23rd. I had to go at 12pm for bloodwork and then at 1pm I'd be going to Clinic C to meet with my oncologist, Dr. R. (Note - I never want to have 'my' oncologist again. ever. I truly respect and appreciate what they do, but I don't want one thanks!!)

That afternoon, I went to pick Ty up a bit early. Travis had suggested I talk to our daycare provider about all of this. She is afterall, a TEN YEAR breast cancer SURVIVOR!!!! She was diagnosed at the same age I am and had a 10 month old at the time. So I did. And I'm so glad I did. She is such an incredibly wonderful person and ensured me she would do whatever she could to help us along the way, especially in terms of Ty and his care.

So here we were. Pregnant in a pandemic. And a cancer diagnosis.