I was absent-with-leave yesterday but it wasn’t a day off to spend time in the pool. Instead, yesterday was the day for my annual Cancer Screening Check up at Cleveland Clinic.

Far too many of you know the anxiety that comes with those check ups.

In my case, coming as check up day came almost 3 years after major cancer surgery, there was no real reason to fear the outcome, but I assure you I did.

  The night before a full day of testing doesn’t include much sleep at all.

You may try to avoid thinking about what you might hear, or how what you hear might effect your life, but you can’t.

  When you get good news that you are cancer free, and that you don’t have to return to Cleveland Clinic for a year as I did yesterday, there is a huge sigh of relief, but there are no cheers or high-fives for the medical professionals who deliver that good news.

Because you know that in the next room, or in a room down the hall someone else is likely receiving life altering bad cancer diagnosis news.

I don’t have to Return to Cleveland Clinic for another check up for a year, but I’d rather think of the time between now and then as 8,760 hours. That’s time I plan to spend enjoying every minute recognizing that time  as the precious gift that I know it is.

That’s the way I see it.