While I love the United States of America flag that is honored on June 14th, there is another reason the date means something to me.
It was June 14, 2013 that a phone call would change my life. It was a Saturday and I was in my bedroom, sorting through a stack of papers deciding which would be 86'd into the circular bin, when the phone rang. On the other end was the ENT who'd performed the surgery that removed the swollen lymph node from my neck telling me he had the results of the biopsy on that lymph node. Frankly, I don't know how these medical folks deliver bad news over and over and over again. When he told me the biopsy results were not what we had hoped for, my world was forever changed. He proceeded to tell me what the next steps would be, but most of all I remember him saying: "If this was twenty years ago I'd be telling you to get your affairs in order [I may have stopped breathing] but the prognosis and outcomes of this cancer have greatly improved now. We had a good conversation and he filled me in on as much as he knew and answered a lot of my questions and other could be answered to the oncologist he was referring me to. Hard to concentrate on anything else the rest of the day. Duh!
