"Three-to-six months"

Just a year ago, we heard those words from a doctor, that Frank had "three-to-six months to live."

That was April 20, 2011. He died on January 17, 2012.

On the day Frank was scheduled to have the life-extending Whipple Procedure, the doctor looked inside him ahead of what would have been a six-hour surgery. Just 20 minutes was all she needed to know that his cancer was inoperable. We experienced heartbreak all over again.

By the doctor's reasoning, the cancer was spreading so fast that he could be dead by July. Or, October at the latest. Three-to-six months. Those horrible words that you otherwise hear only in the movies. Those horrible words that you never want to hear in real life.

We didn't care for that prognosis, and we didn't count out the months ahead. We cried a lot, sure. But in the end, Frank lived for 14 months with pancreatic cancer. Most who get this cancer live for three-to-six months from the beginning. From his diagnosis in November 2010, to that April day when we learned his cancer was inoperable, we had hope. And then, for nine months more, we had each other.