Good Health, and Good-Bye

There seems to be a consensus that Friday the thirteenth is a bad day. For our family, Wednesday, December the thirteenth, has been the worst day of our lives. A telephone call that morning told us that the biopsy of a small lump under the skin of my beloved wife and my children’s’ incredible mother, was diagnosed as cancer. Furthermore, it was a cancer that had its origin in some other part of the body. Subsequent diagnostic imaging has revealed that the origin is the lung and that surgery of any kind is not an option. We are all devastated.
It is indeed strange that someone such as I, dealing with death frequently, still finds this reality totally unexpected and totally unacceptable. I guess we look at the life expectancy of a woman at 65 to be another nineteen years and do not expect anything less for the person we love. How do we face the reality of loosing your soul mate of the last forty four years? She is so incredibly brave she breaks my heart. One hour after being told the terrible news, she turned to me with tears streaming down her face and said “You know, I’m really not afraid of dying. It’s just that I’m going to miss you and the kids so terribly”.
I would like to thank my physician friends that helped Lea and I reach the diagnosis and plot a course of action quickly. I can’t imagine people waiting for weeks for necessary imaging and attention when a cancer diagnosis raises the distinct possibility of an early death.
It has been one year since I started this blog, and this will be my last blog entry for a long, long time. My priorities lie elsewhere. I extend a sincere thank you to those that have read my dissertations, rambling as many were; and a particular thank you to those that have commented. Good health in 2007 to all, and may the world marvel at your good fortune.