A year ago this date ...

Exactly a year ago this date, I returned to work after nearly five months of cancer treatments, surgery and recovery.

It was too long to be away but necessary. Oddly, before my bout with cancer, I was a relatively -- if not overweight -- person, hardly ever availing myself of sick days, let alone using up my annual allotment.

So last year, my return was the start of my work week, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008. Everyone in the newsroom welcomed me back, and while I was a little slower than I'd been I got right back into it.

We had a couple of parties at work, with cakes, fruit and other desserts over two days to celebrate my return.

My friends at work truly were that during my absence and return. While away they visited, wrote, sent plants and flowers, food and warmth. They visited me in the hospital, at home, constructed a scrap book to cheer me up (which it did, immensely) and in many other ways made me feel good. When I walked back into the newsroom I was greeted by two rounds of applause. I was at a loss for words, which, my friends will recall, doesn't happen often.

Since then, I've gone off my pain pills entirely, gained back about a dozen pounds and seem to be doing well at work.

Some friends have left the paper and a few others have come aboard. Change, hopefully with health, seems to be the norm nowadays.