One of the issues I address in the book is how, in light of the length and depth or our battles, and notwithstanding the passage of time, the renewed sense of value in life and the need to avoid taking things for granted remains. I got a reminder of this fact this last summer. Upstate for a couple of days of relaxation over the weekend, I woke up on Sunday morning not feeling “exactly right.” I was sweaty and a little shaky, and as the morning progressed I could feel my heart beating fast and irregularly. “Am I having a heart attack?” I wondered. “I have come through too much and fought too hard to succumb to this.” So I got a ride to the local hospital and found out I was in atrial fibrillation (a condition in which the upper chambers of the heart, the atria, beat out of sequence with the lower chambers, the ventricles). Luckily, with medical treatment, my symptoms resolved and I was able to be discharged in a couple of days.
The experience, though, was not unlike that which I had back in August 2000 when I was diagnosed with leukemia. Fear of the potential end, and what my condition portended for me and my family, once again clarified for me the importance of all that I have and have experienced … and that’s not a bad thing. What illness, whether it be cancer or something else, gives us, is the perspective to appreciate clearly what we too often take for granted in life; family, friends, and time.
