I have been negligent in writing to the "Director's Blog" for several weeks because, frankly, it has been a tough month on a personal level. My wonderful wife of nearly forty years, Martha, has been fighting advanced colon cancer for over a year. She had surgery at the end of last year and a long course of chemotherapy this year. In August we were told her cancer was worse, not better, and a variety of tumors had developed.

Martha did her research, as any good librarian would, and she discovered a group of doctors who were removing similar tumors through surgery after having conducted trials for the National Cancer Institute. She traveled to the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore and met with Dr. Richard Alexander. He studied her scans, determined that she was a candidate for the surgery and they set a date in mid-November.

Martha and I traveled to Baltimore where I had rented a small apartment for what I anticipated would be a 7 to 10 day stay. Our daughter Jessica joined us and Martha underwent approximately 10 hours of surgery. Dr. Alexander reported that all went well, 10 tumors were removed along with a number of parts I didn't know you could live without and Martha had gained additional time to take chemo and continue her fight with this awful disease.

We returned to Nashua 11 days after the surgery and Martha continues her remarkable recovery at home. She is scheduled to start a new round of chemotherapy on January 2. I want to thank everyone who has expressed concern and offered prayers during this difficult time. The staff at the library has been terrific, the Trustees are supportive and I feel confident Martha is on the road to full recovery.

But if you are over 50 years of age and have been putting off that colonoscopy, please do not wait another day.