{"id":459,"date":"2020-01-20T08:41:50","date_gmt":"2020-01-20T08:41:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicalmemories.whereishome.info\/?p=459"},"modified":"2020-01-20T08:41:50","modified_gmt":"2020-01-20T08:41:50","slug":"today-was-a-good-day-early-birthday-gift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicalmemories.whereishome.info\/?p=459","title":{"rendered":"Today Was A Good Day: Early Birthday Gift"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Another visit to the doc, find out the results of those tests,<\/em>
Hopeful of a further reduction to these meds,<\/em>
Shining brightly now, that proverbial light, I can see it in the distance,<\/em>
Gotta choreograph that victory dance, plan the celebrations,<\/em>
Second-to-last chapter, inspired by that Ice-Cube banger,<\/em>
Sincere thanks to fam, friends and those three angels, this was a team effort. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

23\/1\/2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It didn\u2019t take long to rouse the drowsiness from my eyes on\nthe morning of the twenty-third of January. On an average day I would drag my\nhalf-asleep self into the bathroom to splash cold water on my face over the\nsink in order to wash away that zombified state but on this day, I was as alert\nas a guard dog as soon as the alarm went off, practically jumping out of my bed\nlike a professional athlete that had been ordered by his coach to get up at the\nbreak of dawn and run several miles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can\u2019t snooze now,\nBuddy, you\u2019ve got another meeting with the doc. Get up off your ass!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, I didn\u2019t hit the road like Forrest Gump but following the de-zombification process I returned to my room to do some mobility drills and also stretched out my body, still smarting from the previous day\u2019s workout and teaching session at the Wing Chun Academy. It was one of those days where my creaky body once again saw it fit to remind me of my advancing age and I winced during a few movements, feeling the sting of muscle tightness in my legs, back and sides. This ageing vehicle had certainly accumulated plenty of miles and no longer shook off the effects of a hard training session as easily as it did ten years ago (five years ago, too, for that matter).
But I was far from ready for the scrapheap. My back, knees and shoulders would gripe every now and then but I remained strong, fit and free of any chronic ailments that hindered my mobility and balance. I\u2019d like to think that once I am retired and living out my twilight years I\u2019ll be like Jack Lalanne, still capable of performing crazy fitness feats and outclassing younger lions in athletic endeavors at an age where most people would be content to sit in their recliners all day. As tempting as a life of rest and leisure sounded, I preferred to still be able to throw down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ok, we\u2019re going\noff-topic here. Time to regroup.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following that stretching and mobility session I headed to the kitchen for a breakfast of banana, porridge and boiled egg and washed it down with a \u2018glass of ambition\u2019 as Dolly Parton described it in that Nine-to-five <\/em>song, though I am not a coffee drinker so for me it was a glass of warm water and a vitamin D tablet. Boring, I know, but it did the trick. I rested up afterwards, allowing my meal to digest adequately before heading to the showers to get dressed, head-banging to the song by Ice Cube that inspired this post as it rang on high rotation in my head. I took that as a sign of impending good news.\u00a0
Oh yes, today IS going to be a good day!<\/em>
I carried that confidence with me as my father and I drove to Dr. B\u2019s clinic, for once not feeling the nerves within swirling in my stomach as though I was a human blender. I felt like a kid on Christmas Day waiting to open his gifts as we took our seats in the waiting room.
Today IS going to be a good day!<\/em>
Rinse and repeat. It was probably the first time in a long time that I was visiting the doctor without feeling queasy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon arrival, it hardly mattered that the lights in the\nwaiting room were kept at a relatively low dim, a stark contrast to my mind\nwhere it was all sunshine and good vibes. There appeared to be five new\npictures added to the small collage of children\u2019s drawings that were tacked to\nthe wall in the back of the room, just above the play area in one of the\ncorners. If I recall correctly there were also two elderly couples in the waiting\nroom with us and they stared at my father and I during most of our time\ntogether, trying to figure out who was the patient and the support system. I\u2019ll\nbet they would have been just as stunned as the others that I\u2019d crossed paths\nwith throughout this saga if they knew that it was the young bull, not the old\nbull, who was the patient. If there\u2019s something I learned during this journey\nit\u2019s that younger folks are not immune from sucky illnesses and health\nconditions that required them to undergo a totally invasive and embarrassing\nmedical procedure. Colonoscopies were not just for older folks with an\nincreased susceptibility to bowel cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least I\u2019ll know\nexactly what to expect once I am ordered to undergo bowel cancer checks every\nfew years when I\u2019m older.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. B called us into his office following a twenty-minute wait, the result of my father and I arriving rather early and Dr. B\u2019s previous patient taking their time during their meeting. Upon entering the office a younger doctor, fresh-faced and probably aged in his early-to-mid-twenties, was standing beside Dr. B\u2019s desk waiting for our arrival. He was Dr. B\u2019s understudy, his prot\u00e9g\u00e9 if you will, and I have to admit that I felt a sense of relief when I shook his hand. It was great to know that Dr. B, the genius that had restored me back to good health, was passing his gifts and wisdom down to the next generation, so to speak.
Both men were dressed in business attire that day, suggesting that neither had to rise earlier than the sun to oversee a colonoscopy prior to our meeting.
The young would-be doctor sat on a chair beside Dr. B\u2019s sprawling desk that was still stacked with cards regarding different bowel disorders and surrounded a model of the digestive system, not far from where family photos and one of those \u2018World\u2019s Best Dad\u2019 mugs were placed, while my father once again took a seat on one of the chairs lined up on the side of the room, facing the massive window that looked over an impressive view of the rooftops and green fields in the nearby suburbs. There was a cool breeze outside set against the backdrop of the sun\u2019s full bloom, which I took as a good omen. Dr. B sat down on his desk and after exchanging pleasantries with us uploaded some files on his computer before turning towards me, eyeing me with a smile on his face. His understudy might as well have started a drum roll at that moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am pleased to say that you are now in clinical remission,\u201d he announced rather triumphantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Man, if he had said anything else following those words I didn\u2019t hear it. I immediately froze, wide-eyed and paralyzed with shock and awe, betraying the euphoria and excitement that immediately washed over me like a sandstorm rolling over a barren desert.
I think this is what being \u2018gobsmacked\u2019 feels like. Or maybe a delayed reaction.<\/em>
Nope, no delayed reaction. I sat still in a trance for a rather long time, like someone that had won a million dollars but couldn\u2019t quite wrap their head around the fact. It was a completely different story inside my mind where the music was turned up at full blast and all guests at the party were dancing and celebrating at levels that would have put Brazilian Carnival to shame but I didn\u2019t let those emotions explode out of me like fireworks on New Years\u2019 Eve. I didn\u2019t want Dr. B\u2019s understudy to think that one of his mentor\u2019s clients was a total lunatic and Dr. B himself probably would have been left wondering what kind of monster he\u2019d just created. Still, it felt like those moments during the conclusion of a boxing match, where the referee calls the two combatants to the center of the ring shortly before the fight\u2019s outcome is announced and the challenger hears the words, \u201cthe winner\u2026..and NEW\u2026\u2026\u201d you never hear anything else that escapes the announcer\u2019s lips as he is immediately drowned by the sound of cheering and jubilation as the winning fighter and their supporters celebrate wildly.
Meanwhile, you would have needed a chisel to remove the wide grin that took over my father\u2019s entire face. He was just as pleased as I was. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. B gave me a moment to take in the good news before continuing on. He wasn\u2019t done spreading good cheer just yet.
\u201cI think we can now reduce your Mezavant dosage by one,\u201d he added.
That meant three Imuran Tablets and three Mezavant tablets. It was not exactly an astronomical reduction but it was still one pill less and another step towards a normal life that didn\u2019t involve having to take medication in order to shit like a normal human being. This date instantly became a very early candidate for the \u2018best day of 2019\u2019 and I was glad that Dr. B\u2019s understudy had a ringside seat to it all so he can see first-hand just how good his mentor really is.
You\u2019re in good hands, Kid. Your teacher pulled a broken-down man from the depths of severe pancolitis and restored him back to normal. He\u2019s the fuckin\u2019 Don!<\/em>
That\u2019s Don with a capital D.
Dr. B then turned his computer screen towards me and on it were the results of my recent blood and stool tests. Little did I know that the celebrations were about to be temporarily halted to make way for a final serving of shock and horror. Dr. B annotated on the screen the relevant areas of the test results and revealed that my haemoglobin levels were still at healthy levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far so good!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hold on tight, Cowboy. There\u2019s more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. B turned his attention towards my faecal calprotectin levels, which measured the amount of calprotectin in my stools. Elevated levels would have been consistent with the migration of neutrophils to the intestinal mucosa, indicating an inflammation of the bowels. Well, the results of the previous week\u2019s stool test indicated that mine was at a level twelve, a healthy result, but according to Dr. B my past tests had indicated that it had been in the thousands when my health was at its worst. That\u2019s right, THOUSANDS! Four zeroes territory.
Holy shit\u2026\u2026!<\/em>
My jaw almost hit the floor while my father gasped in disbelief. That was pretty fucking elevated!
That little revelation sure did put the trials and tribulations from the previous year into perspective and a part of me wondered why Dr. B had kept that rather startling statistic under wraps until now. Was it to surprise me with how far I\u2019d come? Or did he choose to withhold it from me until I had recovered sufficiently so as not to burden me with more disturbing news as I was already overwhelmed by my initial diagnosis? Either way, I felt proud to have left all of it behind in less than a year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. B got back on track with the good news. \u201cYour rate of recovery from this has been quite impressive,\u201d he added, \u201cclearly your fitness and strength have served you well. You didn\u2019t feel any side effects from the medication?\u201d
\u201cNo,\u201d I replied proudly and it was the honest truth. Not once did any of the ugly side-effects that Dr. B warned me about rear their ugly heads.
\u201cWell I\u2019m glad to hear that,\u201d he said with a smile, \u201cyou really are a tough guy.\u201d
He then eyed me up and down and grinned.
\u201cYou\u2019re working out again, right?\u201d
\u201cYeah, I am.\u201d
The shirt that I wore for that appointment was rather tight-fitting and hugged all the right places, particularly my chest and shoulders. I was in far better shape than I had been when he first laid eyes on me, back when I was skeletal and anemic.
\u201cWell keep it up,\u201d he mused, \u201cit\u2019s nice to see that you\u2019re in much better shape now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Music to my ears.\nThanks, Doc!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ll be able to gradually cease treatment within\nthe next couple of years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the confirmation of the remission was akin to winning the lottery then this was winning the lottery plus the Nobel Peace Prize to boot, not that I thought I was ever going to win either one any time soon. If this was a game of Mario Kart <\/em>that annoying Lakitu dude would have pulled up on my screen and held a sign on my face that read \u2018Final Lap\u2019, the light at the end of the long tunnel was finally manifesting itself in the distance.
\u201cWe\u2019re glad to hear that, Doc,\u201d my father added, \u201cso it\u2019s down to three of both?\u201d
\u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d he answered, \u201cwhatever it is that he is doing, just keep doing it.\u201d
\u201cI\u2019m just eating healthily, staying active and trying not to stress too much,\u201d I said.
\u201cAnd he\u2019s taking his medication religiously,\u201d echoed my father.
Dr. B chuckled. \u201cYeah, just do more of that.\u201d
\u201cOk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We booked a follow-up appointment for July, later changed to June due to conflicting schedules, before my father and I drove off in very high spirits. I texted my mother and sister my results and they were just as stoked, it was definitely a good time for me and the family.
\u2018I am pleased to say that you are now in clinical remission\u2019.
Man, those words stayed with me for the rest of the day and a week later, an envelope arrived in the mail from Dr. B that contained a copy of the letter that he had delivered to Dr. G confirming the remission. I\u2019d like to think that Dr. G jumped up and down and did a happy dance in her office upon reading that as she, too, played a major role in my recovery and deserved credit. She and Dr. B made one hell of a team and with additional help from Dr. R and that iron infusion, helped me conquer that disease. The favorable results were the perfect early birthday gift and definitely worth the early wake-up.
In addition to Dr. B\u2019s positive news that song by Ice Cube continued to reverberate in my mind for the rest of the day, and I was more than happy to keep it playing on repeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I gotta say it was a\ngood day.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another visit to the doc, find out the results of those tests,Hopeful of a further reduction to these meds,Shining brightly now, that proverbial light, I can see it in the distance,Gotta choreograph that victory dance, plan the celebrations,Second-to-last chapter, inspired by that Ice-Cube banger,Sincere thanks to fam, friends and those three angels, this was a … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Today Was A Good Day: Early Birthday Gift”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicalmemories.whereishome.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicalmemories.whereishome.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicalmemories.whereishome.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicalmemories.whereishome.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicalmemories.whereishome.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musicalmemories.whereishome.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicalmemories.whereishome.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicalmemories.whereishome.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicalmemories.whereishome.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}