Daymares

There’s nothing like a good hangover to make you appreciate a regular day. Which is why my morning was so great. I say morning, because after lunch, my newfound contentment began to fade.

Mid-afternoon, I became suddenly aware that my lymph node was hard. Not swollen, as it sometimes gets, but hard, like I had a golf ball lodged in my neck. I panicked. My hands were dripping and uncontrollably shaking as the diagnosis played out in my mind.

“Six months at most,” the doctor told me, as I tried to remain calm.

“You’re lymph nodes are shot. The Lymphoma is in a very progressed stage.”

I fast forward through the failed chemo treatments, to find myself in a dark room. Bald. Full of disbelief and regret. I sulk to myself, wondering why I refused to take advantage of life when I still had the chance....

Then, just as quickly as the flood of thoughts began, they stopped. I realized that my lymph node wasn’t hard at all. Not even swollen. And as I popped a sweet and sour prune into my mouth, (yes, you read that right), I felt a sharp pain in my left canine tooth.

“Exposed nerve,” I thought, as I saw myself in the dentist's chair…