The Sunday midday diagnosis had been brutal.  Retreating to the ‘nothing box’ in my brain was a pleasant relief.

Regretfully, wallowing in my ‘nothing box’ turned out to shortlived.

At 14h00, the advanced reconnaissance troops arrived.  My 34 year old daughter, Ashley (straight off the Air France flight) and my best friend, Jane just walked in.

Ashley had read the report on Saturday. Packed a suitcase. Driven to Schipol Airport, Amsterdam. And taken the Air France flight to Johannesburg. Her husband, Greg, was told … “I have to go. My mum is in trouble. Look after the two dogs. Pack up the apartment and get us ready for the 30 July 2025 immigration flights to Sydney, Australia. Love you. Bye.”

I was stunned to see Ashley. It was Jane’s second visit in two days.

At the time, I didn’t quite comprehend, but I was in for the proverbial “wake up – shake up”.

Fighting back a few emotional tears, I gave them a report back on the surgeon’s midday talk.

But within minutes, the team had conveyed their “so sorry – we love you”.   Everyone then bucked up and moved onto logistics.

Project management and logistics is so much easier than facing reality. A few days later, my friend Ida-Marie commented that I was treating this diagnosis as a new project. She was absolutely right.

Project management is what we have done all our life. We are trained to do it. And from that Sunday onwards… we have rolled out project management.

Ashley (CA, CFA) manages million euro banking loans – along with other banks – to roll out electric charging stations across Europe. Jane (Elec Eng, MBA) has worked in projects across engineering, banking and aeronautical engineering.

And from that Sunday onwards… we have rolled out project management.

“What meds have they put you on”, asked my daughter Ashley.  “I have no idea”,  I replied.

It was a wake up – shake up moment.

The message: Stop lying back like a comatose vegetable. It is time to take control and participate.

From that moment… project management had arrived.

In a surreal moment, my banking executive daughter who was more used to negotiating with banking executives in Madrid, Luxembourg and Paris… was sitting at the bottom of my bed saying… “We are now going to make a list of you meds… and find out what they have put you on”.

“We also need a vocabulary. What are we going to call this 15 x 14 x 8 cm mass?”, she asked. “The melon?The avocado?” “No”, I replied. “It is more like a small paw paw.”

No one was going to argue with me. Henceforth, it became the Paw Paw.

A close colleague, Paul, surprised me with a visit on Sunday night. I was able to convey the seriousness of the situation. Once again, Paul  would have to take over as Chairperson of the Green Industries Council.

I smiled when I heard that Paul had just come from the Verdi Requiem concert played by The Symphony Choir of Johannesburg, conducted by Richard Cock. Wasn’t that the requiem for the dead?