Bucket List items should really be checked off over many years, long before you’re close to dying. It is just too complicated to attack outstanding dreams once you’re sick.

Brock wants to go to New York, Washington, Boston, Chicago … All those great cities. Plan B is a trip down the California coast, with a generous stopover in Portland. Plan C is a motor home trip to see all the American national parks.

But now that he has a “pre-existing condition,” it will be extremely difficult, and maybe impossible, for him to get travel medical insurance. If he has a health problem related to his cancer and needs care while we’re travelling, that will be financially devastating. So if we opt for being responsible, there will be no trip to the states, and he will have to leave those dreams unrealized.

Or we can risk it, and see if the thrill of danger makes our holiday even more exciting.

He’s lucky that he still feels well enough to travel, and has the energy and interest in doing so.

We asked our oncologist what he thought about travelling: should we do it now, when it’s getting colder, or risk waiting until the spring or summer. “Now,” he said. “Now. Now.”

Dr A. is half palliative care provider, half life coach. We should all be tackling our bucket lists “Now. Now. Now.”