One more time

One more to go. The only announcement that will make me happier than that right now will come in two weeks when I can say that I'm done. We had a little snag today as Kelly and I forgot to bring the pump to St. Ignace. Not a huge deal, we just had to drive back up to the Sault and have it hooked up at War Memorial Hospital.

I have mentioned a lot of people in my posts, all of whom are important to me. There are a ton of people that are important to me that I didn't mention and I apologize for that. At some point, I hope to be able to talk more about the people who are important in my life and give them credit (or blame) as the case may be for their influence on my life.

Three people that I wanted to mention briefly and certainly merit a post dedicated entirely to them because of the things that I've learned from them are Pat, Todd, and Brian. Pat taught me that there was more to life than the little box that I had created for myself. He broadened my horizons and showed me a world that I knew existed, but had no interest in. You have my sincere thanks for that Pat, as a lot of my interests today have roots in the things that you introduced me to. Todd is a lot of things to me, but I think that his biggest role in my life has been that of a moral compass. He has helped me through several tough times in my life and has always been there with solid advice and friendship that is constant and steadfast. Brian gets credit for teaching me that sometimes rules need to be broken and getting into trouble is not always a bad thing. Every time I see the movie History of the World Part 1, I think of Brian. Like I said, these words are just a brief sample of my experiences with these guys and there is a lot more to all of them than I'm saying here.

I have talked a lot about my past in this blog, and I think a lot of that had to do with the fear I was feeling about how this whole deal was going to turn out. I'm certainly not trying to tempt fate or anything, but I think maybe it's time I started talking about the future.

Having cancer has changed me in a lot of ways. It has made me appreciate the things that I have and the people in my life and it has also made me wonder if I've gotten everything that I can out of life so far. When I was first diagnosed, I asked myself if I had done everything I wanted to do and I found out that the answer was a resounding no. There are big-ticket things on the list to be sure, but also plenty of things that most people would consider “everyday” stuff.

For example, one of the big ticket things is to take a trip to Scotland. I don't know if it will ever happen or not, but I hope so. A more attainable goal that I have is to try egg-nog this holiday season. I have never had the guts to try it before, but this is going to be the year. My courage only goes so far though. My wife ordered a veggie-burger for lunch today and tried to get me to take a bite. It will be awhile before I can make myself try that. I mean, if you want me to eat vegetables, put a vegetable in front of me. If I want you to try a bratwurst, I'm not going to try and dress it up like a stalk of broccoli.

Some of the things I have coming up are my last treatment of course, which happens on June 24^th. I also have to go back to Detroit and have a pre-op appointment so that I can have my osteomy reversed. During that pre-op visit, they are going to do another flexible sigmoid-oscopy. (I have no idea if that's spelled right, but that's how I say it.) I suspect that that will be the most uncomfortable part of the whole process. There is a part of the movie History of the World Part 1, which I mentioned earlier The part I'm referring to happens in Rome during the reign of Caesar. A head honcho in the Roman Army is placing Gregory Hines and Mel Brooks under arrest and is asking the citizens if anyone knows what the punishment for their crime is. (I can't remember what exactly the crime was) A member of the mob says that the punishment is to shove a living snake up their ass. It's not the correct answer, but I think that single phrase might be what inspired the the flexible sigmoid-oscopy. I'll get through it though as that will be the last step prior to the surgery which will mark the end of my bodily “accessories.”

If this battle were a basketball game, we are in the fourth quarter with about two minutes left. I have a 15-point lead and the ball. Warm up the bus cancer, cuz this game is almost over.

I Will Win