A Precious Year Of Living!

January 26, 2006 a full year ago I received a diagnosis of lung cancer. I posted on it here: "Thursday, January 26th, I was diagnosed with lung cancer. Talk about a kick in the teeth." A kick in the teeth, "Indeed!" as Glenn Reynolds would say!

A full year has indeed passed, and your's truly is still here, still kicking and fighting the good fight. When I posted about the diagnosis, I sent an email to Dr. Reynolds and he was kind enough to link to my Fighting Cancer post. As a result, I received over 100 comments and something like 300+ emails. All, without exception wishing me luck, saying prayers or some similar comment. The response was overwhelming and sustaining like you wouldn't believe. I received comments and emails from other cancer victims encouraging me to beat it like they had. I received emails from families of cancer victims that had not "made it" and those were supportive as well. In all, I was blessed by an outpouring of care and concern the likes of which I've never before experienced.

I got the diagnosis on the 26^th, had surgery on the 6^th of February and started chemo-therapy a little over three weeks after that. And through it all, with some 17 additional posts on cancer (the archive for those posts is here) I continued to get well wishes and prayers. Those too have sustained me in this fight. On my birthday (Sept. 20^th) I was at the oncologist's office awaiting results of the most recent C.A.T. scan and P.E.T. scan and got the word that I was cancer free. What a birthday present that was!

I have to tell you a story. While I was in intensive care, this nice young man came in and introduced himself as Dr. Lazo. "I'll be your oncologist," he said.

"I'm sorry," I said, "I don't mean to be rude, but you look like you are still in high-school." Dr. Lazo laughed and noted that he heard that a lot. I saw him the other day for a routine checkup and he still looks like he belongs in high-school. But he is a great guy and one hell of a Doc and I am lucky to have him in my corner.

Throughout this entire ordeal my family has been by my side. My beautiful and wonderful wife Norma, my daughter Jennifer and my two younger brothers Bert and Doug. A greater family no man has ever had! I've also had the support of a whole bunch of crazies that I associate with in several google and yahoo groups, notably The Wide Awakes, Wide Awakes Radio and South Park Republicans a nicer (but nuttier) bunch of friends cannot be found anywhere. Would I have made it without them? Possibly! But they made the struggle easier.

I have also been lucky enough to blog about the experiences, posting on such wildly divergent (well, maybe not) topics as fear and the Joy of Living and each post has garnered comments that have touched me deeply. And for that my beloved friends, I thank you.

This has been a tumultuous year, with periods of quite thought, a little fear, a lot of joy, the uncertainty of not knowing what the future holds, and the sublimeness of living in the moment. Of sharing a hug with my wife and saying good bye to a friend as I returned home from a visit. A year of surgery, chemo induced nausea and determination to survive. And survive I have, thanks to Almighty God, the love of my family and thanks to you, my readers and dear friends, because of all of you combined, I've had another precious year of living.