A Flash of Euphoria

I woke up at about six this morning with this strange feeling I couldn't put my finger on right away.

It took a few minutes but then it came to me: for the first time since Saturday, June 13, the day after I was told there was a "mass" on my pancreas a sense of dread was gone. I had finally processed what a series of positive medical developments meant: I'm probably no longer facing imminent death. A long life is probably not in the cards but neither is one cut quite as short as seemed likely two weeks ago.

One of the advantages of lying in bed for endless hours is you have plenty of time to think. And in this case, it struck me that my daughters had saved my life. I put John Lennon "Watchin the Wheels" on the iPod they bought me, looked out of my ninth floor hospital room window and felt a euphoria sweep over me. Here's how it happened.

After we got the diagnosis, Janice immediately went to work for "Team Gallagher" and within a few days got an apointment for us to see one of the country's top pancreatic-cancer surgeons, with whom we had no previous relationship. Three days after that appointment, I was on his operating table.

How did she do it?

Old Capitol hands should think "Zenia Mucha" but with much softer edges. She has the charm and tenacity to usually get what she wants and has since she was a few months old, I recall.

Meanwhile, Ellen, another vital cog in "Team Gallagher" went to work on the techie side. It seems like one day we were simultaneously feeling overwhelmed with phone calls but also cut off from many people, to having a website, a new email address and automatic email updates that transformed what I consider the astounding flow of good wishes into something I could both digest and draw strength from. Having the girls read the emails to me quickly became the highlight of my day. I know the Internet is killing newspapers, but it's doing some good things too.

All of this time the team's matriarch, Emily, was keeping a close eye on the patient making sure he was doing all the numerous duties of someone in his position, including breathing exercises, sipping ice cubes and walking straight as prescribed. Her skill at relaxation exercises and other "untraditional" treatments gave me an edge in the biggest battle of my life.

I'm convinced that her insistence that I be allowed to listen to soothing music on the iPod immediately after surgery played a role in my body tolerating the procedure so well.

"Team Gallagher" still has more games left to play, but for now it's enough to know the season isn't over yet.