Push the play button above for today’s musical pick – The Wheel by the Grateful Dead

Friends and Family,

At long last I am posting my final blog entry to close out this crazy episode — and what better moment to do that then on New Year’s Eve.

My final check up with Dr. Kendrick in October was exactly what we hoped for.  No complications and my personal favorite…no more cancer doctors.  From this point on I will be monitored through annual visits to my “lady doctor”.

It is a dream of an outcome and I couldn’t be more grateful.

An idea hit me this morning that I believe is worthy of sharing with the tribe on this final day of the year.  As with all things I share it begins with a story.

While I have had breast cancer in the family for quite some time (cousins Heidi and Renee and Aunt Barb are the toughest chicks I know), it was Vikki’s diagnosis this year that tipped the scales and afforded me the opportunity to have an insurance covered breast MRI.  I had this test yesterday, and while I won’t have the results for one week, it has already given me the gift of reflection.

Before I share my observations, let’s ground everyone on what the MRI experience is like.  You are placed face down on basically a sliding dolly that feeds your body into a huge machine face down.  You have an IV in your arm to insert contrast into your bloodstream.  Once they have you situated they place protective ear coverings over your ears (think Beats headphones without the music), hand you a ball to squeeze in case you need them and then the technicians run out of the room.

Let’s be clear — I am grateful for this screening technology.  Despite this, you can’t help but wonder if there is something fundamentally wrong with being the last guy in a room that everyone is falling over themselves to get the hell out of.

Observations Triggered by this Experience:

• While waiting my turn to launch myself into this machine my mind went to the dark side for a moment, wondering how things would have been different if Vikki had access to this screening technology in time.  Before you knew it I was sitting there fighting back tears.  Thankfully, as is common with me,  the silver lining revealed itself.  While it is a tragedy that we lost Mom, it would be a double tragedy if we didn’t learn from her experience and take advantage of the screening that is now available to us.  Both Carlie and I will be eternally grateful for this gift.

• Late in the evening after the test Patrick asked me why I did this in December.  His thinking was sound, this year may be jinxed.  Why not wait to test for new things in 2015 — the year of new beginnings.  I’ve thought about this quite a bit overnight, here is where I landed.  As human beings there is really no end to challenges we’ll face; medical, financial, relationship troubles…the list goes on and on.  The good news is that there is also no limit to the love, support and compassion we can experience if we open ourselves up to it.  While an end of a calendar year implies “closure” it is really just a date, a method tracking time with the rest of the world.  Life is truly a circle.  The best we can hope for is to take the time to savor the peaks and tap into our god given support system to power through the valleys.

I close by thanking my support system, I have leaned on you heavily this year and hope that each of you know that I am at the ready if any of you need me — available for both peaks and valleys, day or night.

Enjoy the ride!

Dawn