My Journey with Triple Positive Breast Cancer

At the Butchart Gardens last month.  Our Canadian happy place. 💗 I apologize; it's been a wee while since I posted on my own personal blog (as in, not since June, 2025) and I haven't been prolific on Ken's blog either, but I have an excuse! Actually, I have many excuses, but the main reason is that typing hurts. I could type with just my right hand, but that gets annoying rather quickly, so I just haven't. Why does it hurt to type, you ask? Well...😬 Back in December of 2008, someone asked me if I could knit a sweater in an hour. Actually, I think it was more along the lines of "I bet you can't knit a sweater in an hour!" In my youthful years, I rarely said no to a challenge. Thankfully, years have brought the maturity that was lacking - or maybe I'm just too tired/sore/unwilling to exert myself at someone's behest? 🤔 After successfully completing the sweater in under an hour (a cute capelet knit in very thick red yarn and gifted to my sister-in-...

Walking across the pedestrian bridge in Capilano Park. "So how've you been?"  Hmmm, what to say... 🤔  Do they really want to know, or are they just being polite?  How much do they want to know? How much sharing is oversharing? Do I have the emotional bandwidth to talk about what's been going on?  Will they think I'm attention-seeking?  Will they even believe me? I'm having difficulty believing this is my life and I'm smack in the middle of it!  "I'm okay, how are you?" 🤥 I thought it was time for a quick update. It's been a while! (Turns out that time flies even when you're not having fun!) On May 6th, I passed a major milestone: I'm 5 years melanoma-free! At the time of my diagnosis, in early March 2020, I thought that my world had crashed in. Nope, that's what happened on my birthday this year with Ken's diagnosis, but I digress...as usual. 😁 Thankfully, my cancer was caught early, and other than a hideou...

  One of my fears, upon hearing "you have cancer" for the second time, was that my cancer would be wasted. I know, I know, how do you waste cancer? Well, if I don't use my own experience to help others, or if I don't allow God to use my cancer to glorify Him, then it's wasted. The number of lessons I've learned since my breast cancer diagnosis is seriously mind-blowing. To say that I'm not the same person would be a rather ginormous understatement, so allow me to share a few! When you receive a dire diagnosis such as breast cancer, you realize something rather quickly; you want more time. You don't necessarily want to plan a grand tour of the world, or cross items off your bucket list, though these are not bad ideas and some patients find them helpful in giving them hope, but what most patients want is just more "normal time." You want more time to laugh with your loved ones around the supper table, to go shopping at Winners with your bestie,...

Ken and I enjoy driving to the office using country backroads. I took this photo last Friday,  when I wasn't sure if he'd be returning to the office. (No worries, it's all safe and good - Marigan is driving... actually, if you've driven with Marigan you know it's neither safe nor good! 😉) If you've ever had imaging done where you were required to hold your breath, you know how good it feels when they say, "And breathe." Until the next time you have to hold your breath, that is. 😒 This past week has had moments of breath-holding and moments of relief. We have felt the power of prayer and thank you for your support. 💗 I apologize for the radio silence; this week had been booked off for a vacation way back in December of 2023. Obviously, this was not the week we had anticipated!  I plan to create another blog specifically for Ken, so this post will be short.   If I had to leave a review for the past couple of weeks... As I mentioned in the last blog po...

  Hello, family and friends!  Welcome to the inaugural version of The Makus Year in Review letter,  otherwise known as Life Was Too Busy Before Christmas to get the Letter Out. 🫣(Besides, the year wasn’t over! 🤷)  Our sunroom, aka. Blood Money Build (built with funds from my Critical Illness Insurance payout), was completed in January and has become the most used room in the house. When we planned the sunroom, we thought building it as a private addition to the master bedroom was a good idea and still do, though the need for guests to traipse through our bedroom is slightly awkward. 🤨(Yes, I always usually make my bed…now.) The bird feeders outside the windows host diverse bird species including Pileated, Hairy, and Downy Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers, and the usual passirines.(And yes, they all have names, such as Robert Junior, the Downy Woodpecker. 🤭) Combined with the antics of Freddy the squirrel, and Joey and Zoey the Mule Deer, we are well entertained! K...