Ready To Exhale
My 2021 Cancer Journey:
142 Appointments
25 Radiation Treatments
16 Rounds of Chemo
5 Surgeries
2 New Drug Allergies
Through it all, I built 1 new home.
Why did I build a house while battling cancer?
I was bored sitting in the car during a road trip to The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs Labor Day 2020. We live in Kansas City and the 9-hour drive was getting kind of long. I sat in the backseat through the Flint Hills and starting searching home listings to pass the time. At one point I said aloud to the family “What if we moved?” That simple question became the conversation of the trip. We discussed it as a family over and over that weekend. In the end, we had an appointment with our realtor to tour a model when we returned to KC. We signed the contract to build The Laurel Home (more on the naming in a future post) the first of October 2020 and were on our way.
Fast forward to February 2021 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Well, shit. The next 10 months were a frenzy of appointments, surgeries, treatments, setbacks, nausea, pain, hair loss, weight gain, lab draws, and countless other unpleasantries. And through it all, we built a home.
A welcomed distraction
I didn’t set out to build my dream home while battling cancer, but I suppose we don’t get to choose when we get sick. Having a new home to look forward too was my “light at the end of the tunnel”. Working with home builder, James Engle Custom Homes, their subcontractors, and my interior designer Molly gave me a break from the endless emotional and physical nightmare I was enduring.
What better way to forget about my cancer reality than by spending time selecting the lighting, flooring, tile, paint, furniture, and appliances?
Something had to give
Before we started our home-building-cancer-fighting journey, I owned several rental properties. Heck, CultivateRE was created to help others build the confidence to build their own real estate portfolio. But things change. Life changes. And through that change my husband and I decided we were ready to let go of the rental properties and refocus our time, energy, and cash on other things. So between November 2020 and August 2021, I sold off all our rentals. I have not regretted that decision for one second. I knew my path had changed and I was willing to accept that my business needed to change too.
Ready to exhale
Fast forward many months and project delays, we are finally in our new home! We moved on New Year’s Day 2021 and have been in the house just over a week. The current color palette is “card board box”, but we are getting settled, receiving new furniture, and styling the house to my vision. My cancer fight isn’t over just yet. I have more surgeries ahead of me and a life spent monitoring symptoms and hoping it doesn’t come back. But I am ready to exhale and enjoy. I look forward to sharing project photos, finished rooms, and more about our building experience now that I have finished treatment and am settling in at The Laurel Home.