Monday, September 24, 2007
The Office
Today marks the 60th day since I last spent a day at the office, and I marked the anniversary by going back to work. It felt good. I completed a few tasks Mike (my business partner) laid out for me, went through a lot of meaningless mail (b/c Mike opens and addresses all important items), laughed a lot, had a long lunch (and laughed some more), and then began to crash so I left. I was gone from the house for a full five hours. How things change in just a couple of weeks. While chemo is around the corner, on Thursday, I'm enjoying this comeback while it lasts. Tomorrow morning I go in for a PET scan so the doctors can gauge the effectiveness of the chemotherapy on the cancer cells. I hope to report good news. Either way, I know I'm in good hands, I'm young and strong, and I have you all and faith.
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2 comments:
Hey Dave --
It's great to hear that the last few days have been better. I just ordered Terps basketball tickets, and I thought of you. I'll see you at Comcast this winter! If you need a meal, babysitting, or anything else, we'd love to help out. Good luck.
-- Burck
Dave, I'm thinking of you and praying for you. I check in on your blog daily. PET scan, huh? Sorry if you know this already but...It's weird because they bring in some radioactive material from a repository in NJ and it's high security. Ask 'em about the process. They inject it in you (no more painful than any other injections. no side effects...I always tell people that the 500th injection hurts just as much as the first...you just don't get use to some things!). The odd part is that they make you sit in a dark room for 45 minutes to cool your body temp. The main advice is to stretch a bit. You lie in an MRI-like machine (more open though) with your arms elevated and I got the same stretching advice...it really helped my shoulders loosen up. Also, take seriously the food restriction because sugar in your system clouds the results.
All in all- it's easy...really, it is.
The office thing takes me back to my first return. I found myself really looking forward to getting back (and even missing some of my clients and the work). I definitely had a renewed appreciation for having a good working environment and people (like your partner seems to) who genuinely care about you as a person. One of the hard things will be all of your clients wanting to hear your story. You'll get a "script" soon enough but it can be tiring. I found that my business relationships really grew stronger through the ordeal because instead of being stockbroker guy (or attorney guy), I was a humanized as a normal, loving person going through an traumatic ordeal. Many people both personal and professional will overwhelm you with how they respond (a few will surprise the other way too).
One of my good memories is having really intense feelings of affection and fondness for people in my life and my strong desire to let them know how I felt about them. Was I having "this is my last chance to say how I feel" moments?...was it the morphine drip making me feel lovey- dovey...I don't know but it was a strong feeling and I felt unusually comfortable sharing my feelings in a genuine way with those people.
I'm using you for my own therapy here (!) so I'll stop. Please know I'm still planning on a visit to DC or when you are in Balto. I went to the Ravens game with my son yesterday and we had a blast. THe game had my heart pounding at the end. IT reminds me that people often ask if I have a new perspective on life, and the canned answer is of course , yes but the truth is I still worry about the stock market and get terribly bummed when the Ravens lose. My treatment coincided with their 6-10 season in '05 and it might have been the most unpleasant part!! And Hopkins for some unspeakable reason didn't have ESPN in their in-room cable lineup!
Protect your energy and get well my friend.
Brian Doak.
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