** Diagnosis is a pretty arbitrary date: it’s way after you STARTED being sick, and way before you are DONE being sick-- it’s a celebration of discovering what’s wrong with us?

** Mourn your 1.0 self and life -- ceremony or a formal remembrance/farewell can be useful.

** Maybe your celebration is forgetting about it.

** Some people don’t feel safe enough to celebrate -- the chance of recurrence.

** Cancerversaries can be a reminder of how your options have become limited.

** Schedule exams on your cancerversary -- (Leanna gets a mammogram on her diagnosis anniversary--NOT an annual mastectomy).

** Use your cancerversary to mourn those who’ve died.

** Statistics mean something, but they might not mean anything FOR YOU --don’t hide behind the statistics.

** Get ready to be nervous -- planning for the future and figure out what’s next.

** Beware of your teenage self: she might have ambitions beyond your old wet damp dishrag of an adult self.

** Think about what you are celebrating: the future and the amazing YOU!

** Take comfort in the “vague” and “abstract,” because that’s how it comes sometimes.

** The cake is a lie, or "your promised reward is merely a fictitious motivator"--tomorrow is not promised, so enjoy every day, not just the milestones.