One by one, down the dark road

I see that Sen. Ted Kennedy has been diagnosed with malignant brain cancer, and although his friends, colleagues and the various writers are on the "he's fighting this thing" bandwagon, I also see that surgery is apparently not in the cards, which makes me think he's at grade IV.

Having seen my uncle as well as the butterfly lady's die of high-grade glioma, which is what Kennedy apparently has, I say this: If you or someone you know is diagnosed with grade IV glioma (aka glioblastoma), your No. 1 priority should be to square away any un-squared away business you have first and save the talk of "fighting this thing" for later, because to mix some metaphors, the end of the line is at your door.

Is that a bit harsh? Maybe, but it's true, too. I suppose I just wish people could set aside their fear of death to leave time to better enjoy the remaining part of life. But I'm also not one to look back. The best day, for me, is today or tomorrow, not yesterday.