Hey Now Everybody,                                                  Break Between Chemo & Radiation
Man, I got y'all riled up for the Lafayette Community Music Festival, my goal to get there and see so many of you, and then I go completely dark. Not good blogging.....
So, we nailed the Music Fest. Anyone who was there could attest. The quality of the players, the AMAZING turnout, some GREAT stuff on the Silent Auction Table made it an entertaining evening.
To the power of goals, to believing that I was going to make it that night, the whole night. That was my goal.
My obstacle was that the gig date fell on Day 12 of the 21 day chemo round, and my notes from the 1st 2 rounds were that this was just about the worst day, the top of the bell curve, so to speak........that caused me some concern, and I off-loaded a few tasks that made my life easier. Day of show I rested, didn't meet the bands coming in like I like to do, but stayed home till 6:15 and rested, napped, retained every bit of my energy....I blew my own mind that night.....I rolled through the night, yakked my mouth off at the MC mic, intro'd everybody, and got to sing in the Grand Finale, led by Drew Harrison of the Sun Kings, a rousing version of "With A Little Help from My Friends (my choice).
I did get by with LOTS of help from my friends. The ticket turnout was amazing....loads of folks came from the Peninsula, The City, Marin, and Dan-o from Phoenix, AZ. Lots of folks took a stab at the Auction, which served to up the ante, all to the benefit of the Theatre. Cancer or no cancer, that was one of the funnest nights of my life. Thanks to everybody for bringing the great love and energy for me. The human being is an incredible energy-giving-receiving composition. Very Avatar-like, and man, my tail was plugged into that orchid all night long, baby!
I get a break from May 14th to June 4th, where I will then begin 7 weeks of radiation, 5x/week. With chemo treatments now something I have experienced and completed, I move on as boldly as I think I can. This radiation thing grows on ya, week by week, and gets nasty that 5th to then post treatment 9th or 10th week.......the radiation can and does work up to 2 mos after your last treatment, in there burning shit up.
I have a 5 or 6 guy network of fellas who have experienced this very cancer, from 48-67 years old. Each time, I was put in touch by someone who heard my story and helped me make contact. It is amazing to hear their different takes and experiences as I "interview" them. They all offer different perspectives, so I get to go a-la-carte and take the nugget ideas. I also find comfort in the consistency of experiences, knowing that some stuff is the same for everybody in a certain time period. The key is to expedite recovery.....
I guess I look at this as the 2nd half of the Championship Game against a very physical opponent. It's gonna take all I have but I will come out the other side of this a victor. What a trip.
I promise to be more frequent with posts. To those staying with me, and to those learning more about HPV-16 cancer, thanks for the great energy.
Speaking of energy, let's  wake up the Giants, huh?
I love you all, thanks so much for all the great posts. I read them all.
Cheers,
TS