My wife is a genuine, determined, principled and a caring individual but often times private. She wasn’t particularly thrilled when I told her I wanted to discuss and document our journey. The day before the surgery she made it perfectly clear,”No cameras”! When she discovered I was taking some candid shots with my iPhone camera  early the morning of surgery, she gave me the evil look but I wanted her to know I was doing it from my perspective as a husband and supporter, hoping that the endeavor might be a help to others. It also was, I guess in someways, a distraction for me. Something to keep me busy.

Since the tumor was aggressive (infiltrating ductal carcinoma), going into to new uncharted waters was a bit unsettling to say the least. Before meeting with Dr. Haun we discussed many issues, did some online research  and set out on our own pragmatic course.

There are times in our lives when things unfold in a very deliberate way. I think Dr. Haun was our lucky charm. We met Dr. Haun on January 12th and within minutes we individually could tell she was our guiding light. What was special about her was her straight forward talk of the circumstances we would face, options to attack this dastardly beast, and the great possibilities that lie ahead. She didn’t beat around the bush but she also had a calming and reassuring way about herself. She readily admitted she didn’t have all the answers right away but displayed confidence she would be able to lead us in the right direction while offering her expertise and guidance. All this with an upbeat demeanor, compassion and a sense of humor that would give Letterman a run for his money. In short she is a jewel.

Surgery day was a long one as anyone would expect. We left the house at o’ dark thirty and  Nancy was in  Kaiser’s radiology department at 6:30 a.m. for imaging dye. Then we shuffled a stone’s throw away to St. Joseph’s Hospital for her pre- op. I kidded with people they wanted to have her in the operating room while she was still asleep so she didn’t  know what hit her! Surgery wasn’t a cake walk for Nancy but things went without a hitch. Dr.Haun and her staff kept me posted by calling the waiting room on various steps of the procedures. That was a very comforting and satisfying gesture.

Because the of the lengthy time and detail of the mastectomy, I decided to grab lunch across the street with my sister who was so kind to come and sit in with me while the operation continued. Normally, I probably wouldn’t have budged from the waiting room but I felt so confident in Dr. Haun and her team I felt the small break would be good for me since I had been on task for over six hours.I was told I had about an hour and half before she would be settled in her room. Wrong! Just as my sis and I ordered lunch, the waiting room volunteer called my cellphone and said Nancy was on her way to her room.

A leisurely lunch became a quick bite and off we went to see Nancy.

I didn’t know what to expect and I certainly wasn’t sure what kind of shape my sidekick would be in after such an ordeal. Surprisingly, Nancy looked terrific! A little groggy and struggling with a slight sore throat from the intubation. But, hey who wouldn’t be complaining about an apparatus being shoved down your throat! She was already upright and partaking in a liquid lunch. She was a real trooper and I was very relieved.

Dr. Haun visited during her rounds late that afternoon. She was exuberant and extremely sweet in her discussions with Nancy. We knew from an examination during the operation that her Sentinel node reported no signs of cancer. Dr. Haun assured us she would let us know as soon as possible what the status of the other lymph nodes reported in the days to follow.

The highlight of the afternoon was when Dr. Haun asked Nancy if she had any questions. Nancy’s query was, ” Will I be able to go to Las Vegas with my friend Brigette the 13th of February?” Honest truth. I was chuckling inside because I knew right then and there Nancy had her own agenda on her recovery route. It’s an annual trip she and her friend take in February. The doctor thought that might be a little premature and wasn’t sure what Nancy’s post op treatment would be quite yet.

She kidded Nan and said if chemotherapy was involved and she lost her hair, she could easily go as Tina Turner one night and choose a another celebrity hairdo the next. Nancy was slightly amused.

Nancy could have gone home that evening but Dr. Haun thought a precautionary overnight stay might  be best since my wife tends to get nauseated with most pain medicines. The weird thing about that is Nancy never did take pain meds!

So, when I came to pick her up the following morning, not only was she dressed ( in a very becoming warm up suit, I might add) and raring to go, she walked right out of the hospital. I was floored.

As a husband and a prepared caregiver I made sure everything was in place when she came home to convalesce. Wait, the day before surgery Nancy was cleaning at home like a maniac though I did help with some of the chores. At any rate, we planned for various types of light foods and drinks. Her bedding was freshly cleaned and I charged up  my “walkie-talkies” so we could communicate from various locales in the house.

Within an hour of Nancy settling in for some quiet time the phone began to ring. Friends, family and professional associates were on the horn offering love, support and prayers. Nancy decided  that day to catch up on her email as well, which also was inundated with electronic well wishes.Then the flowers and food began to flow into our home. We could have started a small bistro with flowers for every table! Our home smells of spring and Martha Stewart’s kitchen!

The day of surgery her long time friend Marge equipped me with a mini cooler brimming  with containers of homemade “Jewish chicken soup”. That she said, ” was to hold us over until she orchestrated meals from Nancy’s friends and professional peers. Topping that with incredible dishes from our Evergreen area neighbors and friends, Nancy said her biggest fear was blowing up like a blimp.

It has been nearly a week since her surgery.She looks beautiful and her strength is pretty much back. She has been on a couple small hikes with the dogs, managed emails and phone calls and is determined to get as many thank you cards in the mail as humanly possible.

Her will, determination, attitude and resolve are sound. Along with those same objectives, I am concerned but very optimistic. The journey is long with some hidden curves but we are on the right path.

The wonderful light illuminating that path is shining from all of Nancy’s friends, our families and those that have entered our lives in so many different ways.

My View of Nancy’s Day by iPhone

The Kaiser Permanente radiology department was a bit eerie in the pre dawn hour. The good news was there were no lines.

Surreal light bathed our walk to nearby St. Joseph's Hospital

Paper work. Need I say more?

"ID"ed and "IV"ed

Around 8:30 a.m. anesthetization was the topic between Nancy and Dr. Conrad in pre op

A pink ribbon and a statue of Christ. Not bad icons to have outside the building of your operating room.

The waiting room was spacious and comfortable...not the Ritz Carlton lobby mind you, but it was a good place to relax and get some editing done and keep me preoccupied.

Nancy's surgeon Dr. Joyce Haun, a physician who upholds the ultimate credo of "bedside manner", gave Nancy a thorough briefing the afternoon following surgery.

Once Dr. Haun became aware of my photo essay she had to get in on the act and insisted I kiss Nancy!

In the balance of life this was not a great year. However, I have many blessings  to be grateful for and I look forward to the challenges  and adventures that come my way in the months ahead.

I wish the best for everyone as the year unfolds. Thank you to all that support me and my work and offer the personal relationships that make it all worthwhile.

Just for grins, I would like to share several of my favorite images of 2009. Happy New Year!

During a December NFL game Denver Broncos Brian Dawkins cranked up his mojo

In June Samantha Sagaser of Conifer CO. modeled for my illustration for the Arts in Evergreen feature article in the Chamber of Commerce Annual Business Directory

During the BMX Vert competition at the Summer XGames in Los Angeles last August, Jamie Bestwick went high flying.

I was contracted by local craftsman Don Harris to photograph his collection in April. The challenge was to do justice to these eloquent hardwood pieces sculpted with TLC, immense detail and fine rich grain.

Last May I captured a red fox enjoying an early evening nap in the field grass near our home in Evergreen, CO.

During the bike portion of the 2009 Ford World Ironman Championship last October, cyclists were greeted by the stare of a goat skull mysteriously mounted on the post of a guardrail just south of Hawi. If you are wondering , I didn't put it there either!

This photo is in memory of Taupe, our 13 year-old Weimeraner we lost last fall. She accompanied me on an assignment near Kenosha Pass last summer when I photographed her in a meadow of wildflowers.

Dull as it is, this has been my view and office for seven days as I try to heal from a back injury.

Somewhere between the Queen Ka’ ahumanu Highway covering the Ford World Ironman Championship October 10, the Boston Patriots AFL throwback game less than twelve hours later  in Denver October 11  or the hike with the wife and dogs on October 18th , four hours before boarding a plane to cover the Monday NFL game in San Diego, a nerve in my lumbar decided it had had enough. About mid day on the 18th not long after the hike, my left hamstring started barking at me like an old ‘Coon” dog.

I first thought I tweaked  the “hamy”. Something I have done a gazillion times as a 10K runner and mountaineer. I stretched. I prodded. I massaged the back of my leg as I packed for my trip to San Diego. I figured a hot shower before I left would give some relief. I arrived in San Diego and began messaging and stretching once I got settled into my hotel room. As the evening progressed,  as I had dinner with my compatriots in La Jolla, the old dog really began to howl and I even started carrying a gimp.

The next morning, less than twelve hours before the game, my leg and foot were numb and I could barely walk. I threw up the rescue flag and called friend and team chiropractor Dr. Mike Leahy in his room. He said come right away. Hobbling down the hallway, past the team meeting rooms, getting odd stares and inquiries about my condition, I made it to Mike’s room and waiting message table. After about three thorough routines his prognosis determined a disk and nerve injury. He felt there wasn’t much we could do from that point forward until I could get a full exam.

At the stadium the stares turned to gawking. I sucked it up and did my best Frankenstein imitation shuffling up and down the sidelines. Team orthopedic physician Martin Boublik caught a glimpse of me as I bobbled by the bench. He scurried over and asked about my situation. Right then and there he ran me through several mobility tests and conferred what Mike Leahy had suggested.

Team doctor Steven  Geraghty was on my team bus back to the airport and in a rather genuine and heroic move offered to prescribe medication to start retarding the inflammation and promote healing. Dr. Leahy offered to see me at his clinic in Colorado Springs in the following days before he left for a conference in Toronto. Dr. Boublik updated his consultation on the bus as well.

Other than the medication, the only thing else I could commit to was their advise of ice, heat and rest. Thank goodness the team had a a bye week  last week as I was clearly on injured reserve!

So here I am seven days later making every effort to be ready for our next away game in Baltimore. Now I know how frustrated  injured players must get as they prepare their return to action.

Another thing folks should know is team often times goes beyond just the players and coaches.

I am back after about a month’s hiatus. Things in my life were clucking along just fine, then May 2 I lost my father. No matter how prepared you are for a time like this, it still turns your world upside down.

He had some health issues. Most folks at 83 years-of-age do have problems. His issues were related to metastatic prostate cancer. All in all he had a great life to the end. And best of all it was on his terms. He was  out and about the day he died. He lived by himself and was very self-sufficient. The day before my sister and I had visited because his health care provider set up a meeting at his home to offer some extended services. My dad was optimistic all the time and I think he stunned the visiting doctor and nurse. There we all were in his living room enjoying conversation with these health care representatives. The doctor , who happened to be female, was asking a myriad of questions  many of which were very caring and sensitive in nature. He had recently been experiencing regular back pain and had a lot of sleepless nights. Trying to seek information that might be beneficial to dad’s care the doctor inquired,” Sy do you have any long term plans that we may be able to help you achieve ?” Dad, sitting comfortably in his reading chair, paused, then smiled and said, “No, not really. I just bought my 2009 fishing license so I think I am going to be around for awhile.”

At the meeting’s conclusion, I got up and excused myself from the doctor and nurse. I went over to my dad, shook his hand and patted him on the leg and said, “I’ll see you Saturday afternoon when I finish my assignment.” He replied,” that’ll be great.”

Not much more than twenty four hours and he was gone. I am so blessed that I left him on good terms and he left on his terms.

As years past we became more than father and son. We were friends. Up to the end we shared a lot of great times together. He was a good dad. A great outdoorsman and as I told a lot of friends at his memorial,  he was a true Norwegian who could squeeze a dime out of a wooden nickle.

He will be missed by many folks.

Photos almost don't do justice to this detail

One of the benefits of my work is learning something new just about every day from either news sources, research or the people and the businesses they develop or direct or perhaps by the products they produce.

Most recently my schooling came from Don Harris. Harris, who lives here in Evergreen, is a career military man with a penchant for making furniture. Not your basic shop class stuff mind you, but exquisite, detailed period furniture. These chairs, tables, chests of drawers and bed frames are pieces of art.

It is the type of craftsmanship that once you have seen or touched the wood you know immediately a man’s soul has penetrated the deep rich grain and left an indelible mark of love and care.

Don has plans to launch a second career as a high-end furniture maker and wood craftsman. He contacted me to photograph his current collection so he not only has a record of his pieces but to have the building blocks for a website and future marketing material.

The fluted back to this Harris chair resonates with attentiveness.

After speaking with this quiet methodical man with a seasoned Georgian accent, it became very apparent his military background wedged with discipline, determination and resiliency would meet the task at hand.

He has chiseled good looks and a physique that would take you out in one blow. However, there is a gentleness to him that shows his caring for not only for the raw woods and tools neatly positioned in his well designed wood shop but also for his wife and two children.

In the twelve hours I spent with him my knowledge of wood and the evolution of its natural state into artistry quadrupled. Though I was familiar with some wood working terms seeing Don’s definition of dove tail, breadbox and dental gave me a whole new perspective.

Hands crave to touch these fine smooth lines detailed to perfection.

Shanahan studying game film late at night

The final day of 2008, Wednesday December 31 was the explanation point on a year filled with head shaking events.

Mike Shanahan, the head coach of the Denver Broncos was fired. Yes, in a world filled with conflict, unsettled times and an assortment of life changing circumstances, football is pretty insignificant and a coach’s firing is not uncommon at the end of a season.

However, I took this event to heart. Coach Shanahan had been around the organization and in our community for 21 years. When he first came to Denver in 1984 it just so happens I was one of the first folks he met.

I was assigned to photograph the young wide receivers coach hired by then head coach Dan Reeves.

It was an amiable meeting. Though busy, as most coaches are,  Shanahan was extremely accommodating. If my memory serves me right, I sat him down next to a film projector. Behind him on a white board we displayed a couple of offensive diagrams-X’s and O’s, if you will. I had him look into the lens and the spotty, flickering light from the projector offered the ambiance and feeling of  a coach in his environment- studying film day and night as they always do.

Shanahan's knowledge of the rules has always garnered the respect of the officials

Since his return to Denver as the head football coach in 1995 we constructed a special relationship. Even though I was not a full-time  employee, he had a clear understanding of my roll as team photographer and gave me quite a bit of leeway. As most folks that know football, Mike Shanahan is a no nonsense kind of guy. If he saw you were doing your job he pretty well left you alone. In his  tenure he never refused to give me any opportunity to capture a photograph I felt reasonable for team coverage.

He taught many us around the organization over the years  that good planning, time management and perseverance leads to success. The other two things that were paramount in his leadership were team unity and family.

Though the reality of his dismissal is just sinking in, his legacy here is intact and his future promising.

Like so many other  times in my career I had the opportunity to witness history in a 29-hour period starting on August 27 in my hometown of Denver Colorado.

I was called upon to photograph Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama with the staff of Invesco Field at Mile High where the presidential candidate was to give his acceptance speech to the party’s delegation  the following evening.

Obama had arrived in Denver earlier that night from a Midwest campaign swing. After a surprise visit to the DNC at the Pepsi Center near downtown the senator and his entourage were scheduled to visit the stadium. He was to get a first hand look at the venue and prepare a sound check for his speech. A member of  Obama’s advance team  invited the staff  who helped stage the venue to meet Obama and pose for a group photo as a keepsake of the historical occasion.

Around 9 p.m. under twilight and a darkened stadium, off in the distance at the back of the stage a silhouette of a familiar figure appeared and sauntered toward the center of the raised platform. After a brief scan of the stadium and several waves and hellos to workers below, Barack headed toward the waiting group of staffers. He greeted each and everyone of them with a large smile and a hand shake followed by a compliment of a job well done or a thank you. The group quickly assembled on the steps leading to the podium and I directed the senator to the center of the group. Within I took a deep breath, held everyone’s attention and fired off five “official frames” and three grab shots before the senator bid farewell and escorted off the field by a large group of dark suits.

Barack Obama poses with the Invesco crew

The morning of the 28th I reported back to the stadium for a secret service security check at 7:30 a.m. After being cleared and settled into my work space for the day, I had until approximately 7 p.m. to roam the stadium finding good photographic angles and feature photos that would compliment my main assignment of photographing Obama’s acceptance speech and stadium overalls of the extravaganza.

As with most large events today there is a lot of waiting and killing time prior to the spectacle. By mid afternoon I was ready to get to work after spending most of the day to that point chatting with secret service agents, stadium staff and checking on emails.

People had been filtering into the stadium all afternoon but around 4 p.m. there was a visible and audible change to the stadium. It began to have a sports venue atmosphere with folks milling about, chanting their favorite slogans or carrying homemade signs or posters decked out in Obama/Biden attire.

For the next couple of hours I entertained myself photographing the crowds and the presenters on stage. As the countdown for Obama’s arrival approached,  the attention throughout the stadium began to focus more directly to center stage and orchestrated chants were more prevalent in between speeches and entertainers.

Obama greeting the delegation at Invesco Field in Denver

Shortly after 7 p.m. when the candidate came forward the stadium erupted in a crescendo similar to the final goal of the Stanley Cup or a grand slam in the World Series.

As the speech was delivered, the crowd teetered between spellbound and euphoria. One moment you practically could hear a pin drop and another you thought your head was going to explode.

I was working two cameras. One telephoto focused on the podium and the other working the crowds and the stadium itself. I tried to listen to the delivery as I focused on my subject matter but I knew my main objective was to capture the moments for history.

Ironically, one hundred years earlier the Democratic convention was also held in Denver. Unfortunately I won’t be around to document the one a hundred years from now.