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Good morning my friends, As often happens in life, I recently found myself thinking back to those days of treatments. Even though I had a relatively short tx (16 weeks), the thing that struck me the most was how the whole experience can seem so endless. We just get tired of feeling like crap all the time. Sure, there’s things we can do to ease the sides, but as far as I know, no one has come up with a way to completely eliminate them and as such, the way we feel during treatments is just a part of the overall experience. A sad fact and yet true. The second thing that struck me is how I remembered time. At times it felt like there was no real thread to time. Just a seemingly endless present with that constant nagging headache and those wonderful mornings after the shot day. Kind of like the hangover without the fun of creating it. That’s why it was important to me to celebrate the end of each week. It was the one time that I could clearly see that yes, time was passing and as such, there must be a future to look forward to. This always propelled me onward. It always helped me to understand that though treatments may take a while, there’s still eventually an end to them. To add color to what might have become a drab existence, I often found myself staring out my window or taking short walks in the park and you know what? It was always the little things that made me smile. It was always things that I’d never noticed before even though they were always there. Things like what used to be weeds to me suddenly held a beauty like no other for you see, it was kind of a connection to the real world that I knew was there. Rather then notice the weed, I saw the flowers that it created in a new light. I saw the way the leaves were so symmetrical and perfect in the way they formed. I realized that though we often try to eradicate the weed, the reality is that it holds the same beauty as any flower that we would long to nurture. That it too holds a place in nature and as such must be beautiful. And I noticed clouds seemingly for the first time though I know this really wasn't true. But somehow they’d changed. No longer were they simply the herald of a change in the weather. No, now they were monuments that could attest to the fact that soon I would be free of the dragon. The clouds could tell stories and I allowed my mind to wander often in the direction of these things. To fill my heart with wonder and a desire to continue the fight. So no matter how hard it might seem right now. No matter what you think the end will bring. The important thing is to keep on the path. Keep believing in yourself and if by some chance you ever get the time to look just a little deeper at your surroundings then you too might see the wonders that await you there. You too might get a moment of peace simply by looking at things as they interact with our world. Sometimes all we need to get through this trying time is a little distraction. A moment to think of something else besides the dragon. I hope you can find that little thing out there that speaks to you. That brings a smile to your face. Something that reminds you that in just a little more time, the world will indeed look different for you see, it will be a world in which the choice you made seemingly so long ago manifests once and for all into the world you always dreamed of. One free of the dragon. Have a wonderful week, Chuck