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After I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's,  I had to wait several days to get into the imaging clinic to have a PET scan performed, which shows exactly how far the cancer had spread. As you can imagine, it was a pretty stressful time, knowing that I had cancer growing inside me, but had to wait to figure out how much of my body was affected.

To get my mind off of things, I hooked up with some dear friends of mine from college, who invited me to come along with them on their converted school bus for a trip to the magnificent Gorge amphitheatre in George, Washington to see The Dead, Allman Brothers and The Doobie Brothers.

 
The PET scan was scheduled for Monday, and the concert was that that weekend, so I took off from work and went. It was fantastic. I was a bit of a Deadhead back in my younger days, but never looked like one, or really adopted that lifestyle, but, man, I so loved the music, and the energy of those gatherings. I saw many Grateful Dead shows before Jerry Garcia's passing in 1995. I hadn't seen the boys in any incarnation since, and it was like being transported back in a time machine to hear Bobby, Phil, Bill, and Mickey perform some of my Dead favorites like "Althea", "Eyes of the World" and "Dark Star". It was a great time to clear my head a bit, and spend some time with great friends that weekend.

In true Deadhead style, the bus broke down coming back over Snoqualmie Pass on the way back, and we had to call my wife Catherine, to come bail us out. Catherine is always good like that. She's a saint.
  
We actually missed the Doobie Brothers' set.  I was kind of bummed about it, so all weekend, being the irrepressible goofball that I am, I kept busting out with horrible falsetto impressions of Michael McDonald Doobie Brother songs. It was driving my friends crazy. My travelling companions were folks that I wrote comedy with at Washington State University.  We wrote, produced and performed a TV sketch comedy show called Live at Eight, which received a number of national accolades. Many of the members of the troupe have gone on to great success in show business. My buddy, Randy Dickey, said to me: "As you're dealing with this cancer, think to yourself...'What would Michael McDonald do?' We both cracked up. So, of course, we busted out the lyrics:

(in a ridiculous Michael McDonald falsetto:) "You don't know me but I'm Lymphoma/ I was raised here in this living cell..."

Yes, we are a little bit sick. In the head, I mean. But hey, you gotta laugh. The refrain that I'm hearing from so many folks in dealing with cancer is "Laugher is the best medicine".  I truly believe that.  I have always believed that.  I've tried to live my life with a good sense of humor and have always taken a self-deprecating approach when it comes to life's ups and downs.  I'm not about to change that now.