February 29, 2012…I just can’t let this day go without posting here. After all, this is the first leap year day since I’ve started this blog.

So will this be a post about what leap year is or the “leaplings” whose birthdays come only every 4 years or if a woman should propose marriage to a man…well…you can always Google these.

This date on the calendar will always remind me of  a patient of mine who was dying from brain metastasis from colon cancer. Throughout her life, my patient was gifted with the ultimate organization skills. She planned, prepared and practiced in her head everything she did, whether it was for work, family events, outings with her friends and even her cancer treatments. Everyone loved her as she would do everything for them and friends lovingly called her “Martha Stewart” on steroids!

Her battle with colon cancer lasted a year to date when she got the horrible diagnosis. In that year, as she would normally do, she planned, prepared and practiced everything she wanted to do before she “left”. And that included the date she will depart. That year happened to be a leap year. She had left strict instructions with her husband and doctors that if ever she slipped into a coma that life support be terminated on leap day….yes, that day …not sooner or later. And so February 29 came…and she left.

I will always remember her, her remarkable life and battle with cancer and most especially when this extra day comes every four years.