“It was the best of times.

                       It was the worst of times.”

With apologies to Charles Dickens and “A Tale of Two Cities”, welcome to pod 88 at Dana Farber  Cancer Institute. That seems appropriate as today is treatment #8 of 12. This treatment follows a three week hiatus from chemo.

So let’s do this in reverse. First of all, the worst of times took place during the first week in April. As I explained in my last post, I was transported to South Shore Hospital on Tuesday evening where they discovered that I had developed an ecoli blood infection. After several blood transfusions and other mega medicines especially anti-biotics, they managed to get it under control. It was a scary four days as they kept mentioning c-diff and sepsis and after bringing in an infectious disease specialist, I was sent home on Saturday with a heavy drug regimen which did a number on my system. I would say that the first two weeks in April were definitely the worst of times since this whole ordeal began back in September. A decision was made by my oncology team to stop chemo treatments for three weeks to give my body a chance to recover from the infection and all of the anti-biotics.

Now for the “best of times.” Last week was the best week I have had since this all began. Being off chemo was a great decision as physically I felt the best I have felt since pre-surgery. The best part is that thanks to a good friend, Janet Gibson, the head of Alice’s House on Humarock Beach in Scituate, Ellen and I were invited to use the respite house for a few nights. The house is beautiful and watching the water and listening to the waves was cathartic for both of us. The change of scenery and the magic of Alice’s House was incredible. We even went out to a restaurant one day which is something we have not been able to do since September. To cap off a great week, Tina came into the picture again. Last summer, before this all began, Ellen bought tickets to a special concert put on by the Plymouth Philharmonic. The program was a tribute to two of my favorite singers, Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner. We were never quite sure whether I would be able to go to the concert but we made it! There were two singers, both with lengthy Broadway experience, who sang the hits of both Aretha and Tina. The show was outstanding and we were so glad to be able to attend.
The other event that contributed to the “best of times” last week was a recording of my life. Another good friend, Andrea Cedrone Robbins, who runs another great charity in town, A Simple Gesture, has begun a program of reaching out  to various members of the community to record their life stories. I was the first to do this and our 60-90 minute session ended up going almost 3 1/2 hours! It was a great experience and my family and I thank Andrea for doing this.

Please take a minute to check out Alice’sHouse.org and  “asimplegesture.org to learn more about these two great organizations and the wonderful work they do.

So I am back in the saddle again and should be 2/3 through my treatments. Here’s hoping that there are no more glitches in my treatment and that the next few weeks continue to  be “the best of times.”

Keep those good thoughts and prayers coming as we can certainly use them. And I am still looking for twenty pounds in case someone wants to donate.

Until next time,

Ray