I know that I made a promise that I was done blogging about my cancer trip. However, it seems I need to make at least one more visit to the rabbit hole. If you are needing to catch up or just looking for a recap, my cancer was diagnosed back in October of 2025. In the ensuing ten months, I have visited the UW Health clinic so many times and so consistently that I was considering having my mail delivered there. That is, the stuff that isn’t just the recyclable junk kind.

With a seemingly endless array of doctors and specialists, there was no end to the number of referrals made over that period of time. Today, I met with one more of my doctors. This doctor is one that has been with me for a number of years and has been the one in charge of keeping my arthritis at bay. As we wrapped up my annual appointment, she turned to me and brought up one of the many nagging side effects of the cancer. She explained how she could make a referral to a specialist for treatment and asked if I was interested. In my moment of hesitation, she suddenly did an about face and surprised me with a completely unexpected referral. She decided that what I needed was a break. No more doctor referrals until I was ready. Her prescription for me was to get away. To treat myself and my wife to a trip to anywhere, as long as it meant we got away.

In that moment, she had made the one referral I had truly wanted. She had acknowledged that this was my journey, and in so doing, had given me the opportunity to choose my own path. As I got up to leave, she asked if she could walk out with me. As we arrived at the waiting area, she turned me toward her, thrust her arms forward, and gave me the most healing hug of this long journey I have been on. As the hug continued, she softly said, “I followed your protocol all these months and am so relieved that you have survived.”

Please be assured that I have both appreciated and liked all of the doctors whom I have seen and been seen by. I respect their professionalism and their incredible skill. I thank the UW Health System for providing such a remarkable team. While at times, they all had shown glimpses of this doctor’s incredible empathy, she had just risen a little further above. While practicing her skill, she had not lost sight of the patient. She had recognized the need to not only to heal the physical, she had addressed my emotional need to heal. In that moment of hesitation, she had set aside the protocol and made a diagnosis that could have so easily been missed.

Today, maybe for the first time, I felt a sense of relief, a feeling that maybe I was beginning to regain normal. And, as we drove home, I finally felt a true sense of healing. It is for the healing, it is because I have survived, it is for all the professionals and the care they provided, but especially, it is for Dr Sharkey, that this story needed to be told. Thanks to the fact that I am still standing, I get to be the one to tell it.