A Colonoscope Walks Into a Bar...

We have an eclectic bunch of friends. So it stands to reason we've had an eclectic array of support through this past year.

This is a good thing. It takes many skills to get through cancer. To get through life.

One of the under-acknowledged necessities in cancer care is laughter. We were lucky enough to have friends who knew this and made it a point to laugh with us.

And once they were certain we could find humor in the bits and moments, all bets were off. My cell phone would light up with one line text messages while we were sitting anxiously in a doctor's waiting room. A friend sent a joke a day for weeks after Kevin was in the hospital last winter.

I had no idea how much I needed to laugh about something until the jokes began to arrive. When Kevin was feeling rotten through those weeks, there were some days when those emails brought the only smiles I saw on his face.

Getting through the embarrassment of talk, tests, treatment and recovery was much easier with laughter.

"Hey, doctor, while you're in there, if you see my dignity would you grab it for me?"

So here we are this morning, just over a year into this 'new normal.' We're in a hotel room in Indiana. Kevin has an appointment later today with his surgeon. It's time for the one year check-up of last August's surgery.

Which means another colonoscopy for Kevin. The good news is that he's been through this kind of stuff enough in the last year that it's kind of a 'so what' procedure for him. (The bad news is that he's been through this kind of stuff enough in the last year that it's kind of a 'so what' procedure for him.)

If you've had a colonoscopy, you know that the "prep" portion can be the roughest part of the deal. And you know why we aren't driving into town this morning, opting, instead, to arrive last night.

Kevin is sleeping soundly after a restless night of , er, "prep" work. I was awakened when my phone lit up with a text message from a friend:

"When I had a colonoscopy, my boss insisted on having a note from my doctor. He wanted to know if my head really was up there."