Dooley Noted: 9/27/2014
Last year, you were fighting for life.
We celebrated your birthday, begging fate to give us as much time as possible with you.
We watched you turn 72.
We watched your beautiful gray mane fall away, along with your energy, your physical strength, and occasionally your smile.
Cancer sucks. Quite literally, it sucked life from you right in front of us.
Last year, you were so hoarse your voice was incoherent to us. The man who could once project across a crowded dance hall could not be heard.
Time is not linear at all. It feels like moments and years have passed since your last birthday. Cancer time passes slowly and accumulates quickly.
Then it happened. Everything started working, little by little. It was moments and weeks. Blinks and months.
And now, you have a head of hair that was somehow as thick as the one before. Maybe thicker.
Now, the cancer that wrapped around your airway and esophagus has gone to sleep.
All labs and scans are clear.
We scored another year.
Thank you the teaching me to live in the moment, Dad.
It’s all we have anyway.
I’m so glad for every moment I get with you on this planet.
As for everyone else, it’s their call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley