Friday Dec. 12, 2008 -- I woke up exhausted. I had an appointment with Kevin, my supervisor, to discuss my 2008 performance and fill out the necessary paperwork. I was a mess. Thankfully talking about work temporarily distracted me from thinking about cancer. Kevin was very supportive and indicated that I could telecommute more often if necessary once the treatments started. Later in the day Bonnie and I met with our financial advisor to discuss upcoming college expenses and the recent crummy market performance. We discussed financially preparing for the worst outcome of my cancer. I was numb. The downward spiral continued unabated until, on the way home, I called Tom to arrange a time to talk. Tom is a survivor of the same cancer in a slightly different location.

Tom threw me the lifeline I so desperately needed. He told me, “Stop surfing the internet. Most of the survival data includes data from 40 years ago. The cure rates are far greater today. I was stage 4 and my cancer is gone.” The effect was immediate. The relentless downward spiral reversed. Since that moment I have had some bad days and some restless nights; I’ve often hoped I would wake from this bad dream, but I’ve never returned to anywhere close to that deep dark hole I suffered in during those first 24 hours.