ONE MORE DAY

One More Day.
One more trip to Penn's Perelman Center for chemo.
Sure I'll be back from time to time for tests and such.
But only one more day of poisonous chemicals invading my body.
I will not miss the treatment, but there are people I will miss.
I will miss the incredible professionalism of my oncology nurses at the infusion center. Professionalism, wrapped in laughter and joy. I will say this again because it bears repeating over and over until the world acknowledges the vital truth in it: A doctor may cure you, but a nurse will save your life.
And I will miss my brothers and sisters in arms. My comrades in cancer. Although I know far too few by name, their strength and good humor through obviously terrible adversity has lifted me through this. They are a constant reminder to me of how fortunate I am. Fortunate to get a cancer that has such a high rate of remission. Fortunate to be treated by the top medical professionals at Penn, a world-class health facility. Fortunate to have an incredible support system of friends to pull me through this. And fortunate to have a family whose endless flow of love is the very reason to live.
Compared to my comrades in cancer my path has been an easy one. In my heart of hearts, I hope that my easy manner and good humor during our all-too-brief interactions represents something too: Hope.
In my secret dreams I want to be the poster boy for all that has been accomplished in cancer treatment. And I want to represent all that will be accomplished for all the cancers left to be cured.
Some of you might think I am getting ahead of myself. I am not "cured." From what I have learned there is no such thing as "cure." There is only a remission that can eventually become a permanent remission. To borrow from Thomas Jefferson, eternal vigilance is not only the price of liberty, it is the price of remission.
I am borrowing a lesson from all the sales training I have worked on: Assume The Close. Until someone tells me different, I am done with leukemia and on my way back to living a normal life. Hopefully, a much better person for the experience.

See you soon.