Overwelmed by Support

When a hero begins a journey, a support party often accompanies him in the form of comrades or retainers. As I begin my journey I am truly overwhelmed by the good wishes, blessings and prayers from family, friends, co-workers and acquaintances.

Today I was particularly touched when a member of the senior management team called to add his voice to the well wishers. This reiterates, once more, the soul which exists in this company. Although we have thousands of employees, today it was important for him to call me and reinforce the message people are praying for my health, people believe my positive attitude will carry me, and people will stand behind me to push me forward should I falter or lose momentum.

Even before I learned the diagnosis, my manager was supportive as I booked time for appointments, insisting last week we look at how we could clear my calendar the day I met with the surgeon. It has meant shuffling assignments, asking co-workers to help carry my load. Julie has only had me on her team since the beginning of the month, I can't begin to image how this has impacted her plans for the team and our project plans for the coming months.

Mike agreed to take on the training I was conducting; with my appointment tomorrow we expect to know when the chemo will start. It could be this week, or next. However, rather than simply making arrangements for a half day we all feel it will work best for the associate receiving the training to have consistency for the second half of the program. It's hard to believe how much has changed and how swiftly. None of this was on my radar when I agreed to facilitate the training.

Some of the changes are not just for the short-term. Kelly and Marion will both take on tasks which were part of my weekly duties, adding to their already significant workload. Mark has agreed to pick up another less-frequent task. None of us can even begin to guess how long I will be off, but we all know the time will be measured in months, not days nor weeks.

I am anxious about tomorrow. On one hand I hope to know what the plan is, on the other it makes this more real than ever.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers, your support and your confidence.