  08 February, 2010 Hello again dear friends... First of all, many thanks to all of you who send their best wishes and prayers for Chris... rest assured we pass on all of them to him directly and they are greatly appreciated. Chris is now halfway through his scheduled treatments... six down, six to go. Brian and I had lunch with him last week and he looks great, if not a little thinner. He says the doctors want him to "eat healthy" and "try to put on some weight", which Chris pointed out are two separate things. He then proceeded to order a disgusting pepperoni, salami and cheese sub (clearly his appetite has not suffered, at least not when he is off the chemo pump!) One of the side effects of his treatment is a severe sensitivity to cold which affects not only his sense of touch, but his respiratory and esophageal tracts. This means he not only has to wear gloves much of the time, but cannot breathe cold air or eat or drink anything that is too cold for fear his throat will close up. As for his attitude and outlook, he is in great spirits which is in part due to the positive and steady progress of the chemotherapy. There was some talk that there would be a "break" in the treatment cycle, but because he has responded so well to date, they have made the decision to continue on and try to eradicate the cancer as quickly as possible. He plays his acoustic bass almost every day, keeping his finger dexterity in shape for his eventual return to action. And although his treatments will take him to almost the end of April, we hope that he will be with us when we play Ray Cola's Annual Bike Run for Brain Injured Children on April 10th down at the Old Bridge Elks Club. We'll keep you posted on that as the date gets nearer. As for the rest of us, we forge ahead with our pal Rob Shaw from INDIAN BOY filling in on bass for the time being. He will be with us again this weekend when we make our long-awaited return to HIGH VELOCITY down in Beachwood where we hope to see all our snow-bound friends again! Thank you all for your friendship and support! See ya at the bar!!! ~Bart (as in 'Simpson') All rights reserved, all wrongs avenged! |