For me, this New Year's has been a significant celebration. I was diagnosed with Stage IV SCCA in November of 2002. Three inches or so of the right mandible were removed on December 3... radical neck dissection, fubular graft, a flap was taken from the same leg to repair my mouth. Radiation followed soon thereafter, and I was told that chemo wasn't recommended.

Somewhere in the numbness leading up to the first of six surgeries, I remember my oncologist revealing the grim 5-year mortality stats... he said that the first two years would be the toughest. They certainly were tough, but as I raised my glass this past week, surrounded by loved ones, I allowed myself to revel in the thought that I had looked a monster in the eye and lived to tell the tale.

My wife gve me a Fleetwood Mac concert DVD for Christmas. As the concert built to its crecendo, the aging yet ageless rockers played their anthem to better days, "Don't stop thinking about tomorrow." I choose to think that tomorrow will be "better than today," for me and for you.

Thanks for being here. I wish I had found you a long time ago.

Ken