Walking through the valley of shadow of death

I opened my eyes refreshed and happy. I saw the surgeon standing next to the bed telling me that the initial biopsy showed that I have non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The message however did not penetrate through as I was feeling full of life and vigor.
It was the end of 2008, just before Thanksgiving, and I started looking around for an Oncologist. Further checks followed and it was determined that I had stage IV cancer. The treatment originally proposed was CHOP-R protocol. The CHOP stands for a jack hammer that destroys all fast growing cells in your body; since cancer is fast growing it destroys the cancer cells but also unfortunately takes out all the good white cells while it is doing so. R (Rituxan) is a genetic wonder drug that kills the cancer cells selectively. The oncologist agreed to treat me exclusively with Rituxan.
That started my treatment regime that lasted seven months and thanks to the wonder drug the side effects were minimal and I was pronounced to be in remission; all the visible and palpable signs of cancer were gone.
That experience led me to put my life in order such as writing a will and the health power of attorney. It also made me realize how sweet the life is and savor every day to its fullest and move playing golf a notch higher in the order of things.