"What did you do this summer?"

In a few days I'll be back in school and I'm just as eager as I was in my youth. A new armload of books, fresh pens, new notebooks and fond memories of being asked to write an essay on "What I Did This Summer."

One of the more meaningful things I did this summer was spend a week with local health care providers, making plans to further improve the care of breast cancer patients. This was the third time I've been invited to participate in one of these events and it's always an honor -- although I'm pretty sure they've singled me out because I complained so much during my own breast-cancer care!

After four grueling days cooped up with a panel of experts in a very small meeting room, I was given my 15 seconds of fame on stage for Friday's "report out" to an audience of a couple hundred interested people from the local system as well as visitors who saw our work as a model for change. My goal (to ward off stage-fright) was to concentrate on making the audience laugh. 'Proud to say, I was successful -- twice.