It may be a little corny, if not melodramatic, to be talking about giving thanks at Thanksgiving.  But there is a point to all of this. You know the saying that you don’t know what you had until it is gone.  Well, it works both ways. You don’t know how bad things were . . . until they are better. I’ve shared openly about the uphill battle to get this ship upright and at sea. I can say, now six months later, that it is full steam ahead. I had lived through about 8 months of extreme stress.  I got to a point where I literally felt sweaty palms each time I opened an e-mail or a real letter. Over and over it was bad news.

Today we closed the books on our ninth payroll with no help from the bank. This time our margin was about $5,000 in the black.  That is much better than the $35. just a month or so ago.  We are not out of the woods but my bills are paid and the schedule remains mostly full. My sleep tonight should be sweet.

So, I’m sitting in Mesa, Az waiting for my flight back home. We were just told that it will be another hour wait so  have time to chat. I was here for the Scottsdale Headache Symposium.  We finished early this morning (10 AM) so my wife and I hiked from the hotel to the top of Camelback Mountain (pictured). It was a 5 mile round trip hike.  The climb up the mountain is 2.5 miles of that. It is steep. Very Steep in places and 50% of the “hike” is bouldering. They have these strange metal rails up the steepest parts, which do help. So, I’m a bit tired. But this is also a respite from clinic climbing. My mind has been able to get away from the grind for time to reflect.  On Thursday night I did a presentation to a group of NPs and PAs about my process.  I was almost moved to tears when so many came up and said dumb things like “you’re my hero.”  I was moved to tears because I feel like for the past year I’ve been one of those adventurers who is skiing, solo, across Antarctica. It is nice to be with PAs and NPs who understand what I am talking about when I struggled with banks who would not loan to a PA who is trying to start a clinic, or malpractice insurers who couldn’t get their heads around the idea. I had some quality visits with my SP, whom I brought to the conference. I got to rub shoulders with many old colleagues.  It has been a good time. I’m going back feeling refreshed, and with a new zeal.  I see things I need to fix in the way we do business. I have some new dreams of expanding into different cities and into SE Alaska. It has been good indeed.