Ed = Art

August 29, 2001|

Ed = Art

I don’t watch TV much. But I do watch one show. It’s called “Ed.” On Wednesdays from 8 – 9pm you will typically find me curled up on the couch laughing at the Letterman-esque humor (Letterman is the executive producer, and his two old producers are the main writers and producers of the show), oogling over Carol Vecesy (the main female character) and ignoring all other distractions. The phone goes straight to voicemail, the e-mails get unchecked…you get my drift.

Basic premise of the show: Ed is a New York City lawyer who gets fired on the same day he finds his wife sleeping with the mailman. Reeling from the blows, he returns to his hometown (Stuckeyville, OH), buys a bowling alley, starts up a law practice, and pursues the girl of his high school dreams. Along the way he has to deal with frustrations of starting over again, of having to restart friendships, of having to adjust himself from the city that never sleeps to the city that is continually napping.

Why do I mention all of this? Well, I will be pulling an “Ed” come mid-Sept. I won’t be getting fired. I surely don’t have a wife, let alone one to get caught in adultery. I don’t have a girl from high school that I am pursuing. But I will be moving from The Big City to smalltown America. I will be experiencing all that Ed has gone through in that transition. Leaving great friends, a phenom company, an awesome church, a quality apartment…to start anew at home.

But I must. As it appears now, I got three months or so of ABVD and/or MOPP chemo awaiting me. Depending on how those treatments work will determine if and when I will need to do a bone marrow transplant.

So more tangibly speaking here’s the deal:

Finish up work – first week of Sept.

Meet with doctor about biopsy – first week of Sept.

Biopsy – second (hopefully) or third week of Sept.

Art’s East Coast Farewell tour (stops in Philly, Lancaster, Pittsburgh, etc)- after biopsy, mid-Sept.

That’s the story.

While I am bummed about leaving NYC and having to do more chemotherapy, I am relieved to at least have a plan of action and a schedule.

The prayer calendar will be going up very soon. Look for a future posting about how to get involved.

I also have a ton of stories and adventures from this summer that I have neglected to share. I will try and do an update solely on those sometime soon.

See you soon!

http://nbc.com/nbc/Ed

www.bowlingshirt.com

It’s been awhile…

August 11, 2001|

It’s been awhile…

It’s been awhile since I last gave a full update of my situation. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much new news to write about till now.

Latest Health News

The wheels are finally in motion. Yesterday I did a CT Scan and PET scan to see how and where the cancer is progressing. Lately my left leg has been getting more painful and a row of lymph nodes have popped up along the right side of neck going all the way up and behind my ear. The nodes are small but tender, so I can internally feel them more than I can see or feel them externally.

“Margaret Thatcher Naked, Margaret Thatcher Naked…”

Nurse Practioner David Rice (a New Wilmington/Mercer guy for you Western Pennsylvanians) is usually the one who examines me to feel for any new growths. We have this joke when it comes to the armpit test. I am extremely ticklish. Extremely ticklish. (Don’t get any ideas:)) When he first started doing the test to feel around for any new popped-up nodes, I would repeat, “Margaret Thatcher naked, Margaret Thatcher naked…” to think of something that would not make me laugh (i.e. seeing Margaret Thatcher naked would be something quite unfunny) while he poking around my armpits.

So anyway, he starts repeating “Margaret Thatcher naked, Margaret Thatcher naked…” when he wants to do the armpit test and wants me not to laugh, and it just so happened that he found some nodes up there very recently.

Decision Time

Obviously having nodes appear is not a good thing, but it actually is. I have learned to deal with uncertainty quite well these past few months, but it is nice to know that now one thing is quite certain: I am going to have to do some form of treatment soon.

It has also allowed me to mentally start preparing me for the upcoming battle. There are a lot of good memories that I still carry around from my stem cell transplant, but there are a lot of bad memories, many of which I have purged from my memory. But now I need these bad memories to prepare me…the rubber tube sticking out of my chest, nurses waking me up every three hours to take my temperature, nurses waking me up at 4:30am to weigh me (how stupid is that??? see my January entries for what that’s all about), losing my hair, not being able to eat…I gotta do it all over again. I’m not going to lie, it’s gonna suck. But if it’ll get me better, than I’ll do it. It’s my choice- live with it, or die without it.

Next Up

I have few more minor tests to take and then by the end of August I should have an idea of where I will be and what I will be doing. Stay tuned!