March 14, 2002|
100 Days and 100 Nights
In the movie theaters across the country…
Josh Hartnett: “No sex for Lent! For 40 DAYS!”
Confessional Priest: “You won’t last a week!”
In an examining room at Memorial Sloan Kettering…
Dr. Perales: “No fast food, no fresh vegetables or fruit, no crowds, no going anywhere without masks and gloves! For 100 DAYS!”
Art: “I won’t last a week!”
Just the mere thought gave me a shudder. Almost every time I go to Sloan Kettering I always order two mustard and sauerkraut hot dogs from the vendor on the corner. They are the most delicious morsels you have ever tasted. OK, maybe not. But those dogs are darn good. But, alas, I cannot have one for the next 88 days. Same for Big Macs, Ruth’s Chris Steaks and Chalupas. It’s going to be a LONG 88 days.
I gotta do what I gotta do, unfortunately. Duty beckons. The risk of infection, fever, flu, colds, germs all potentially await a new baby immune system that I now carry around. Even presently, having just been released from the hospital, I am battling para influenza (common flu) and possibly a minor case of pneumonia. And I was just released! Those bad boys probably started there, knowing the symptoms I have been exhibiting pre-release. Thankfully I have wonderful medication that is keeping the two at bay. Regardless, it’s going to be a rough 88 days of discipline for an undisciplined rogue like myself.
As you have might have seen in my new photos, I sorta kinda already broke the whole crowd rule deal. The first thing I did once I was released on Saturday? I dropped off my bags at the RMH and headed for J. Crew. So it maybe, most likely, was not the smartest thing to do. I figure mental and emotional well-being is just as important as physical. I needed to enjoy my new found freedom, walk around the city, smell the crisp intoxicating air, and buy a new baseball cap. That green J. Crew one is in way too many of pictures. On the trip, I wore a mask as much as I could tolerate. I am still getting used to the whole smell your-own-warm-tepid-breath feeling you get when you wear a mask. It takes awhile.
What’s Your Favorite Sport? What Foods Do You Like? How Many Kids Do You Have?
I must mention that I have received just an overabundance of cards, gifts and letters. The number is quite staggering. Thank you so much! In the department of most cute, though, are the letters I have received from the students in Mrs. Titus’s third grade class. All are excellently hand-written and well composed. They have given me quite a chuckle. I’ll leave you with a few of the verbatim highlights.
Dear Mr. Canning
I have bean in the hospital I think 1 or 2 times. I had to get stichis on my chin. Hear is the story how it happened. I was standing on a chare over by a window and the chare collapsed and I hit my chin on the window sil and I split my chin open. And it took 5 people to held me down in the bed.î
Dear Mr. Canning
I wish you good things and get well soon. And get out of the hospital. Can I ask you a question? Good. How long have you been in the hospital? Where you at in New York when it happened? And one more question, will you right us back?î
Dear Mr. Canning
I am nine years old. I was in a emergency room on a ship. I fell off a top bunk going on a Galapagos Expedition. I really hurt!
Do you have any favorite sport? How many kids do you have?
(My reply to the second question: I don’t have any kids just yet. I am only 24. I need to find a girlfriend and get married first. Those are hard enough. I’ll work on those for you.)
It’s a beautiful day here in Manhattan. I am spending the day in Central Park. Maybe I’ll find a girlfriend. (“Baby, if you were words on a page, you’d be what they call FINE PRINT!) Maybe I’ll have hot dog…uh, maybe not. 88 more days, 88 more days, 88 more days…