The Diagnosis is Not

the Prognosis

I went to Palo Alto last night. It was my first visit to the survivor's support group since David's passing. Truthfully, I only went back because I was hurting inside. Not physically but emotionally. I have become symptomatic again. And my old friend Mortal Terror has been knocking on my door.

I needed to hear from other survivors last night. I needed to hear someone who understands that a clinical diagnosis is not a prognosis tell me, "WE will walk you through this." The power of "WE" is absolutely amazing.

The past few years of my life have been about loss, gain and lessons learned. Almost everything I ever held dear was lost, surrendered, stripped away, sacrificed, or tossed aside. And in the midst of all that loss I found myself. There is a subtle shift required to differentiate that thought from finding myself in the middle of loss.

"WE" walks me through the steps of recovery. "WE" was there through 2 different cancers. "WE" continues to teach me about the value of letting things go and trusting in God. And "WE" will be there through whatever this recurrence of symptoms portends. I have been blessed by an abundance of "WE" in my life.. I am an unusually lucky man.

Over the course of time I have also gained this insight; while "WE" has always my best at heart, "They" do not. "WE" has taught me to take risks. "They" play it safe. "WE" showed me it was ok to take the hand extended to me and return it to others. "They" have been known to bite that hand.

I think successful recovery programs learned early to teach lessons about life; Life is a "WE" program.