THE drum coach!!!

The real driver behind the Sock Swag has much more to do with four people that chimed in about this silly little game.  These people are the ones who have stepped into the ring with cancer and won the first…

Like many times before, the latest Sock Swag shenanigans took on a life of its own.  This was not a premeditated thing. It really started a week ago. 

I arrived for the dress rehearsal late last week.  Two techs I…

Dr. Bryson is the captain of his faithful vessel: “The Good Ship Chemo.”  He’s busy bouncing all over the ship. First a quick chat with a nurse, then to one of us patients, then it’s back to the office for…

Socks are bad ass, fun, and interesting. They help me play the bass drum and hi hat pedals better. I played barefooted for a long time, but things changed after I made a drum video. 

My Scandinavian feet are as…

See the script… follow the script.  That is what happened. Things went exactly like the dress rehearsal a few days earlier.  At least it did for the team. I learned a valuable lesson though. 

Lesson: It is not…

My Wendy and I spent the last month and a half listening, learning, and being overwhelmed by the dreams and schemes of a lot of medical professionals.  “We’re going to do this. We’re going to do that. We got the…

Make no mistakes.  The side effects are legit.  So are the professionals that are managing the treatment plans: the radiation team and chemotherapy team. 

Both teams are led by a seasoned oncologist.  The oncologist over the radiation team was the…

Look at this picture.  Blow it up and read the title of each pamphlet.  The two at the bottom of the picture discuss the different types of Chemotherapy that will be used this Tuesday.   The rest of the pamphlets disclose…

I got a call yesterday from another doctor’s office.  The office invited me to come over and get some Port. My Wendy and I love a good port... PasoPort is our favorite.  It sounded almost too good to be true.…

The Unwanted Detour Tour brings new activities into a normal life: appointments, new words and phrases, the Big Doughnut, chemotherapy, cancer cells, side effects, etc.  It overwhelms the mind, heart, and soul. So… what is a drummer to do? Travel…

Biology class was in session many years ago. I took the class cuz it was a requirement to graduate high school. I played the school's silly little game, correctly answered enough questions, and graduated in amazingly average style.  I was…

Things are getting real now.  You know... you reach a point when you see that it is not theoretical, but real: when you say, “This shit is really happening!  To ME!!!”  

A couple of after market modifications to my anatomy…

My battle with cancer requires a two-pronged attack to eradicate the cells that will overwhelm my body if left unchecked.  Yesterday’s post covered the first prong: radiation treatment. Think of those micro-blasts of atomic power as the jab a fighter…

“Atomic Blast” is a phrase that can take a lot of people to August 6, 1945: the day Enola Gay delivered her deadly payload.  Wanton death and destruction were released on humanity that day. The Japanese people suffered the devastating…

“Why did this happen...?” 

Many have asked this question.  The distinction between good and bad question lies in the motive behind the inquiry and the actions taken afterwards:   

“Why are you asking the question and what will you do with…

I was out for a morning walk-about around 5:00 in the morning.  The streets were empty; the air was free of garbage truck stench; and the sound of frogs croaking, crickets chirping, and dogs barking drifted throughout the neighborhood.  The…

GEEK ALERT!!!! 

Cancer sucks.  I don’t want it, and I do not wish it on anyone else. 

Buuuuuuuuuuuut…………………………………………. 

The technology, science, and art of treating cancer fascinates this closet-geek. 

Yesterday was Day 1 of the cancer treatment planning stage. This…

Dad was a grumpy old bastard who lived to be 80 years old.  He believed he lived on borrowed time for a lot of years because of ailments he endured throughout his life.  His wife (my stepmom) sent me a…

Death has visited my family three times the last 10 years. So the fact that all lives will expire is not a big deal.  It is a fact that I just don't lose sleep over. 

Buuuuut….  A cancer diagnosis can…

There are two main reasons... 

The first may seem obvious: to document the journey of surviving cancer: including the prep work, the planning stage, the treatments, and the recovery from the whole ordeal.  Writing affords the introvert in me to…

I am on a 365-day challenge.  The goal is to work on rhythmic patterns with my hands and feet for 365 straight days: a minimum of 1 hour a day working the hands, and another hour working the feet.  That…

Oranges can be the same size as a baseball or softball.  The mass the doctor pulled out of my neck was around the same size as a baseball or softball.  Ponder that for a moment. I knew about the mass…

I have yet to meet one person who loves going to the dentist.  I certainly am not one of them. Perhaps that is why I had not gone in ten years.  Literally… the last time I crossed the path of…

Prayer is a topic of conversation among those who believe in God and those who do not.  It has been one of the topics that confuses me the most about Christianity. Without going all theological here,  I'll share what I…