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Three simple word … Do Your Job. It is the mantra of the Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots.  Do Your Job.

We all have a job of some kind – in an office or on a field, in a home or on the road, some clock it in from 9-to-5, while for others it is literally 24-7.  Jobs can be filled with triumphs and challenges, tears and laughter.  Some of us like our jobs, others dread getting up in the morning to go to work.  Every once and a while, we all need a vacation from our jobs.

I love my “regular” job.  I get to work with teenagers at a critical time in their lives – they are figuring out who they want to be in the world.  I see kids find confidence doing the things they think they cannot do by challenging themselves and others…in other words, they are doing their job.

But for now, I am on a “sabbatical” from my job to work on another very important job – taking care of myself.  Like my students, I am faced with doing many things I think I cannot do – more radiation, another trip to the hospital stuck in traffic, more time spent at my family’s home than my own, and countless medical procedures that need no further discussion.  When I get weary and really want to give up, I tell myself, “I’m just doing my job.”

Jobs are filled with highs and lows.  For me, the bright spot is that my tumor has stabilized.  Prior to radiation, the tumor was growing at a rate of approximately .5mm per week. Stabilized is good…shrinking would be better, but this is what I have for now.  The low point came a few weeks ago when I was told my cancer spread again, requiring 5 more weeks of radiation, in addition to some other procedures.  For the 5th time in my life I was told I have cancer (no one should even have to hear it once).  Pity Party of One?  Right here…no bullshit, this was like a punch in the gut.  I seriously need a vacation from my job.

Here’s the thing…we all work to survive in some way or another and, for me, my job is to get healthy. If my survival means more radiation, bring it on.  All in a days work. I don’t have to like my job right now, but I have no choice; I have to do my job.