AND YOU THINK IT WON'T HAPPEN TO YOU?!

I'm back in the Family Center of a hospital, waiting for Bob to return to recovery from a "simple " procedure on his heart. No big deal. Common.

Done every day.

And I've been here before. Four and a half years ago Bob entered this same hospital for a different "simple" procedure. We all know that any medical operation/procedure has built in risks, some miniscule, some large. But there is risk. That last time Bob was the 1% of the 1% that had the catistrophic event occur. The good news, as we all know, is he recovered and lived to tell the tale. He is the miracle. But there were no guarantees then or now.

And we, his family, had no idea then that having our papers and wishes in order would have been so important. In the crisis we did not have to make decisions,

wonder about the 'what ifs". They had been discussed, shared and written down.

That is the point. None of us know when the final moment will arrive. But believe me it will and not when you may expet it. Do your work. Talk to each other. Share your wishes, your fears, your medical choices. And write the decisions down, stored in a safe box.

Now, you can go for a 500 mile bike ride, hike a mountain, swim the 7 seas or enter

the hospital for a "simple" procedure knowing that all is in order should this be the

day you exit this world.