The Booby Trap
04/10/2012
Bill Talks Balancing Work and Being There for Giuliana
When Giuliana was diagnosed with cancer, I realized our time together was even more precious. We have always tried to focus on having quality time—from working out, going to see a movie and hanging out with our family and friends. That was and will continue to be important to us.
I knew I would have to scale back my work and travel schedule to be with Giuliana more, and I wanted to be there just as much as she wanted me there for her. I am often on the road traveling for business, but people were very understanding when I had to reschedule meetings.
When Giuliana told me to live life as normal, I actually understood where she was coming from. I think going back to a "normal" life helped keep Giuliana in a positive mind frame. Returning to our usual routines helped us both get our minds off the cancer for a bit. Gravitating toward any type of normalcy was comforting for both of us.
That said, sharing the stage with Bill Clinton and Sir Richard Branson was an honor for me. It was a lot of work and preparation, but I was happy with the results. Jon, Karen and I spent a lot of time taking my speech to the next level and I think our efforts paid off. I was torn about leaving Giuliana back in L.A. If she had wanted me to stay with her, I would have. But I went with her blessing.
Later, we were surprised to learn that Giuliana's cancer wasn't completely gone. I felt like we had a black cloud over our heads. We were getting bad news after bad news.
We did a lot of research and spoke to many doctors before Giuliana commited to a double mastectomy. No matter what, Giuliana had to decide what was best for her and I was going to support whatever she decided to do.
It felt like the black cloud I spoke of earlier was getting bigger and bigger when Giuliana and I received the news that we wouldn't be able to have kids for 3-5 years. Again, we tried to focus on the positives. Some people with later stages of cancer get this news and have to go through the surgery, treatments, infertility and they still don't have a positive outcome. We were very lucky that Giuliana's breast cancer was caught early and that her chances of beating it are so good. If we have to wait a few more years to have kids at least she will be around to have them.
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