Celebrating 1 year after dx

[admin]

How do you (if you do at all) "celebrate" the 1 yr anniversary of being diagnosed. My son is approaching his 1 yr anniversary and I was wondering if and how I should celebrate this milestone...he's been such a trooper in this from the very beginning.. Any thoughts or suggestions would be great.

[kcbscrapper]

Our son was diagnosed on thanksgiving - so we do celebrate that every year.  This was the first anniversary of the diagnosis and instead of "celebrating the diagnosis" we celebrated "one year closer to a cure day".  We sent thank yous to all who had supported him along the way - nurses, teachers, friends, coaches etc.  He also had a lot of fun smashing a meter ( thanks to Joe S for inspiring that!)  - the extended family watched as he drove our tahoe over the meter ( several times!) with the windows down so he could hear the crunch, then took a sledge hammer out to finish the job.   
I didn't put a ton of focus on food as I try to let him make reasonable food choices all the time - and never keep things off limits anyway. PLUS why pig out on things that only make you feel worse in a short time anyway.  Besides we were all going to have the big thanksgiving feast anyway. 
Congrats on ONE Year closer to a cure for you as well.  Wishing you healthy numbers in the year ahead!

[Dee]

Great Topic! I love the idea of meter smashing! 

We are approaching our 2nd anniversary (which falls the day after her birthday).  I look at her anniversaries as a celebration of life.  I know it was decades ago, but I can't help but think that at one point diagnosis use to be a death sentence.  With it falling on her birthday, it's all the more reason to celebrate life, even though it isn't as perfect as we want it to be.

Now that my daughter is 6 and has dealt with this for awhile, I think I will ask her how she wants to "celebrate" it!