Let’s Play Two

“Let’s Play Two.” That phrase was coined by Cubs legend Ernie Banks and represents the importance of taking on life positively, even in the face of adversity. The origin of the saying is that on a particularly hot day, Ernie entered the last place Cubs’ clubhouse and upon looking around at his downtrodden teammates Ernie said: “It’s a beautiful day, let’s play two.”

Well, it’s time for me to channel the spirit of Ernie and “play two.”  No, not baseball, I could never hit a curveball no matter how much I tried. My need to play two has to do with the fact that I have to deal with cancer again.  My initial bout was in ’13/’14 when I was in a dire medical condition and my prognosis was, shall I say, not good (ever been told you should get your affairs in order?). Despite that, I accepted that challenge and fought through it. I will admit it was terrible and the most challenging experience of my life.

To recently learn that I have cancer again and that I am going to have to once more go through the wonders of treatments and chemo was unsettling. However, I am in a very different place now than I was nearly 5 years ago and am positive and optimistic. This cancer “event” has been caught early due to the periodic scans that my Providence oncologist had me undergo. I am healthy and have had no symptoms. Having moved to Boston I am now treating at Dana-Farber and my doctor (Dr. Jennifer Chan) and her team are really incredible. I have the upmost confidence in them and my treatment outlook. My chemo sessions begin Thursday followed by two more days (Friday and Saturday). My understanding is that this regimen will repeat every other week for six sessions.

I just wanted to get this post out to tell you directly what is going on and not have you hear it through the “winds.”  Thank you for taking the time to read this message. I created this web page to post updates from time to time.

And I am now going to call upon Ernie’s positiveness and get on with this and “play two.”  Have a beautiful day!