It was one year ago today that I posted Quakers ask people to hold them in the lightthrough which I informed people that my beloved wife, Leaves on the Current, had just been diagnosed with cancer.
At the time we were preparing to deal with the worst. The preliminary diagnosis was some kind of metastatic organ cancer, she was being sent to the Emergency room for a CT scan before she would be admitted to the hospital, and later that evening we were told to prepare for emergency surgery.
In many ways the night of January 27-28 2013 was the longest we have spent together, not knowing how much longer we might have together.
By the next morning it seemed clear that it was NOT a metastatic organ cancer, and within a few days we knew it was a treatable blood cancer.
In the twelve months since we have traveled a long road, grown together in ways we had not expected, become sobered both by the realization of how lucky we are in many ways and by the realization that despite how well my wife has responded to treatment, we still do not know how long we have together - after all, I am almost 11 years older, and had not done a good job in caring for myself until recently.
Along the way we had a crisis with one of our beloved rescued cats, Cielito, who died in my wife's arms as we were rushing him to the emergency vet clinic.
Yet despite all this, or perhaps because of it, we go forward with a positive attitude.
Sometimes it is with some humor. Although she does not recommend the method she used, Leaves has been able to lose a substantial amount of weight, which very much pleases her.
Sometimes it is by overcoming a certain amount of anxiety - we have come to accept that