13 Years Ago Today, 7 Years Ago Today, Today

People look for patterns and meanings all the time. It does not take much to make a "connection" via numbers or dates on a calendar. It happens all the time. One such connection was that my Great Grandfather and my Dad both shared the same birthday and date of death. Of course I did not put that together until after my Dad died, not sure why I did not figure it out sooner. (Yes. Yes. I know. But I am pretty sure my Dad would find that funny. He may have been mad if I let the joke go.)
One of those "I didn't figure this out until just now," just a few hours ago. January 28. Took 7 years to see the connection. 13 years ago today I was in Dharamshala as part of a trip through India. Truly a remarkable trip. During the week in Dharamshala we had a wide range of experiences, from hiking the foot hills of the Himalayas to meeting a wide range of incredible people. 13 years ago today was also the day we had a chance to have an audience with the Dalai Lama. I took one of my favorite photos that day. And also wound up on the wrong side of the camera a couple of times ;)
Then 6 years later, 7 years ago today, I was at Memorial Sloan Kettering in the City. I still had not been told that I had cancer 100% for sure. The doctor who did the biopsy a few days earlier told me to call a surgeon immediately, without waiting for a biopsy. I met with a surgeon, but my primary care doctor also got me into MSK. It was a no-brainer (which in my case, is descriptive more than a saying) to go to MSK. Turns out I got the head gastro surgeon at MSK. Pretty cool. He looked at things and I found out the biopsy results were sent to him. I did not know. Yup, cancer. He said he had an opening in his surgical schedule, so my short visit for an opinion turned in a CT scan, EKGs, blood tests and more. And less than two weeks later I had my surgery. Today, January 28, 2022 I am heading back to MSK for more tests before I start the trial. I am not sure what other January 28 moments I am missing, or what may be added in future years, but being here to write this 7 years after being told the biopsy showed cancer is a pretty good one. 90% of people with my cancer do not make it past 5 years.




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