With Honor

So here is the deal. Except for the afternoon of my wonder nap, this has been a rough week. Only twice have I been to sleep before 3am. The upside is that it gives me plenty of time to think about things which I’m going to blog about in these next several posts!! But I want to be clear about one thing. I well know of the plight of people taking the same Gleevec dosage but they have terrible reactions. Mine are minimal in comparison. Although some patients escape the rapture of Gleevec, most do not. Furthermore, there are much harsher chemo drugs out there which put people through living hell. Thank God, that’s not me.
I have two main audiences for this blog. First, I have those who like the life lessons and life issue posts. Secondly, there are those who just want to know how I’m doing. I try to keep a mix of both, although formulated to keep the symptom reports to a minimum. I don’t like to dwell on the symptoms and I don’t like others to view me as a bag of symptoms either. Over all, I’m doing well…in comparison. Even the sleepless nights are nothing new and have been a factor of my arm for years. It’s just that the Gleevec adds substantially to the drama. If I could get rid of either the arm symptoms or Gleevec symptoms, I’d get rid of the arm problems. I can “stomach” the Gleevec and push on. The arm is almost always the genesis of my misery. So, weep not for me; I’m doing just fine like I have for years.
In other news, our baseball playing son is coming home a few days early. I mentioned the other day that he is retiring from the Phillies. Since he gave them notice, he was relegated to help in the bullpen but wouldn’t be playing. However, in the 16th inning (yes, 16th inning) of a game they needed him. He went in and made some “game saving” (according to the announcer) plays and bunted the winning run to third. The point is, he could have given a half-hearted attempt since he would be leaving in a week or so. But he gave it his all. Yesterday the manager called him in to talk to him. He said that usually when someone retires he is on his own to get home. However, since he’s a "good guy" etc, they are going to pay for his plane trip home, luggage, and let him go home early but pay him up to his retirement day. Our son is very appreciative. As I told him the other day, we can’t always control what happens to us but we can always react in a way in which we hold our head high and act with honor.