Now I’m a new person with a new man, a new dog, a new house, and a new life. There’s so much good that’s come out of the cancer. I feel such compassion for others’ pain. I have deeper friendships and more meaningful bonds with my parents, my sister, and John. I’ve formed new relationships I otherwise might never have had, and renewed old ones that might have remained estranged.
As I toasted a bagel and poured a mug of green tea, Esther ate her kibble. I then retreated to my rocker with my legal pad and pen. And as the waves crashed against the shoreline and the morning sun began to burn off the fog, I wondered how I could write the last chapter.
That’s when I realized I just did.
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“Hope” is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tunes without the words—
And never stops—at all—
—Emily Dickinson
Document Outline
Acknowledgments
Prologue
A Diagnosis June 12, 2000
In the Beginning October 1997
Dating May 1998
The First Pilot for MTV July 1998
Thanksgiving November 1998
We�re Canceled January 1999
Friends April 1999
John June 1999
The Progesterone Blues September 1999
The Pill May 2000
The Botero and the D&C June 6, 2000
�It�s Cancer� June 12, 2000
The First Night with Cancer June 13, 2000
The Triple C Ranch June 16, 2000
�Now I�m Concerned� June 19, 2000
The Night Before June 20, 2000
The Surgery June 21, 2000
My Week in the Hospital June 22�June 25, 2000
First Week Home June 25�July 2, 2000
Fourth of July, 2000
Sex July 6, 2000
Radiation Treatment? July 9, 2000
The House of Blues September 2000
On Pins and Needles October 2000
Melinda November 2000
Chester Drescher December 2000
New Year�s, 2001
Paris Mid-January 2001
Reunions February 2001
Pet Love May 2001
One Year Later June 2001
Alone, but Not Lonely October 2001
Cancer Schmancer Page 22