It's odd, the things that pop into our minds in a crisis. When the doctor called to tell me the biopsy had been positive and that I had breast cancer, the first two thoughts that flashed through my mind were: “I’ve never had a calico cat!” and “I want to be buried in Walnut.” Fortunately for me, my cancer was DCIS, ducal carcinoma in situ. Effectively, these little stage-zero cancer cells are precancerous cells, akin to 10-year-old kids who want to be gang members but don't quite know how to do it.

“They’ll dress up like what they think gang members look like and will try to mimic their acts but they don't really know how to do it,” the doctor told me. “But if you don't get them out, sooner or later a few of them finally will figure out how it works and they’ll become real cancer cells and will go on the prowl. That's when we need to worry.”

I was lucky and the tissues were clean; there was no cancer in the lymph nodes and the doctor concluded that, in fact, the biopsy had probably gotten out all my little gang members. No need to worry about where I was to be buried, at least not for the immediate future.

Nonetheless, I figured my subconscious was telling me something and, since our cat had died several years before, and our dog had succumbed to leukemia shortly before that, I realized we were petless. So, one fine summer's evening, as my daughter and I took our swim together—one older brother now off at college, the other working in Europe, and her father on a business trip —I responded positively when Chloe raised the subject of our getting a cat.

“Nicole has two cats, you know,” she said honestly. “I don't have any.”

We discussed as we swam, slow, comforting, companionable side strokes, none of this thrashing and slashing through the water in a fast crawl or free style, as it's now termed. Swimming was relaxing and companionable for me and for Chloe. I told Chloe we would need to speak with Dad, who I suspected would prefer a dog, and reminded her that there was a lot to think about in terms of responsibility with an animal.