AUTHORS' NOTE: It has been nearly a year since my last entry on the story of Chemo-Radiation Man, and a lot of real-life, cancer-related events have occurred in my life, which partially explains the lack of new material here. Rather than review the last year, I would just suggest that if you ARE interested in what has been happening, that you check out my SECONDBATTLE blog for the details.
Meanwhile, in the life of Reg Ulargy - Chemo-Radiation Man...
CHAPTER 27 : "Your flight leaves at 9:00 a.m."
When we last visited Reg Ulargy, he was just beginning to come to grips with the new reality that his cancer experience, and subsequent treatment, has had on his life, and on the life of those around him....
Much like a WW-II fighter pilot who kept track of kills, Reg had done the same with his battles against the cancer-demons, but instead of painting flags of enemy nations on the fuselage of a plane, he simply wrote the names in one of two columns on the whiteboard hung above his recovery tank in what used to be the study of his home.
About a month or two into his new life as the unwilling superhero he discovered that running back and forth to the hospital to recover from each battle was simply not practical, so with the help of his medical team he had undertaken a remodeling project that called for the installation of his biomemedic gel tank, medical monitors, computer connections to the oncology team at the hospital and a small locker room, complete with a shower and changing room.
Staring now at the white board, sipping on a strong cup of Ethiopian Yigarcafe, Reg counted - in the 'Victory' column, on the left were 23 names, in the 'Loss' column, on the right were 4 names. At the very bottom of this column was written in red, and in parentheses was 'Polly??'
Initially, Polls had been very supportive of Regs' new found life as a cancer-curing super-hero, but it had worn on her. Even in the days when Reg had made his living as a prominent accountant - which required lots of extra hours at the office and at home in what used to be his study, she still saw more of her husband then, than she had in the last six months in his new role.
Reg sipped his coffee and remembered their last 'conversation', if you could call it that...
"This is it, Reg. I'm finished! This is the LAST time you are going to disappoint me and Lucy." she had just hustled Lucy into the car, buckled her in and slammed the door, turning her pent up frustration at Reg.
"Come on Polly, you know how it is. What am I supposed to do? Leave in the middle of a procedure and let some one DIE?"
He continued as he made his way around to the drivers side of her BMW, "I have a responsibility to these people."
"You have a RESPONSIBILITY to your FAMILY!" she responded, buclkling into her seat.
"You barely made the last five minutes of Lucy's performance and missed the last three shows all together. We are going to stay at my mothers' house until you figure out what is more important, being a damn Superhero, or being a father and husband. I love you, Reg, I really do, but I can't depend on you anymore to be there for US when WE need you."
The pinging of his computer notification snapped him back to the present, Reg rolled the metal stool from the edge of the tank to his computer workstation, clicked the mouse, and the screen lit up with the logo of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute in the middle of the screen. Another click and a video conferencing window opened up.
"Good morning, Mr. Ulargy. We have a special case for you.", it was Dr. Larry Salzberg, whose specialty was liver metastases. Reg had a felling of what was coming next, and it was not pretty.
"Hello, Larry." Reg said, settling in as he finished his coffee, setting the empty cup aside.
"What's up?"
"I have a patient here that needs your special help.", the doctor clicked away at a monitor just off camera.
"I will try to give you the short version. 48 year old male. His cancerous colon was removed a year ago, mets have appeared now in his liver and lung. We treated with the first two lines of chemotherapy, as is standard, with no improvement. In fact, he has gotten worse in the past several months."
Reg listened as he reached for the brew button on his Keurig to start a fresh cup of coffee.
"So, I take it the next step for him is some clinical trial or other? Why call me?"
"Well, Reg, actually the next drug trial we'd want him on doesn't open for about six months, I simply don't think he has that much time to wait. Reg, he needs your help." Dr. Salzberg looked down at a folder, flipped some pages.
"I have your room ready on the ward here. I have you booked for the 9:00 on Delta, we look forward to your help. See you this afternoon.
With one hand Reg grabbed the fresh mug of coffee, with the other he flipped open his cell phone and hit the preset for Polly at work.
A few moments later, he was greeted by his wifes' pleasing voice, always so nice to hear first thing in the morning, "Good morning, Polls. How are you this morning?"
A pause, as if she could tell what was coming, "Fine, Reg. I just got back from dropping Mom off at the salon, and Lucy at school. What is it?"
"Just checking to see what Lucy has coming up at school in the next few days", Reg said, trying to delay the news he new he had to deliver.
"Nothing special on her calendar, just the usual, school and lessons," Polly responded, the sound of dishes being done in the background.
"O.K. then. I just got a call to go to Sloan-Kettering, it might take a few days to sort this one out." Reg waited for the scathing blast that he was sure to get.
"Whatever, Reg. Just call when you get there, and try to let me know when you will be back, Lucy worries about you and misses you." Polly said, the dish washing sounds had stopped. Reg pictured here leaning against the counter her hair flowing down in front of her, the moisture from the dish washing condensing on her chest, the first button of her blouse undone.
"Do YOU miss me, Polls?" he asked.
A pause, "Yes, Reg. I do."
"I will call when I get settled on the ward," Reg said.
"Fine. Talk to you later," there was a quick click as she ended the call.
CHAPTER 28 : Once More Into The Breach
Reg made his way through the airport, took the hour long flight to JFK, hopped a cab to the hospital and checked into his room on the ward, a few moments later Dr. Salzberg showed up, iPad in hand, tapping, bring up details of the case.
"Good afternoon, Reg. I hope you're not too exhausted from the rush of the trip, I'd really like to begin as soon as possible.", he looked Reg, over.
"How much time do you need to prepare?" the doctor asked.
"Give me ten minutes and a good cup of coffee and I will be ready." Reg said.
Reg had learned over the past few months how to focus his mind and his body so that when he entered the room of a patient he could fully identify the creature he would be facing. He could now identify just how the creature gripped its victim. At this point, the battle would begin in earnest.
He really hated the metastatic creatures, they were the worst. First he had to identify their origin, in this case he had help. The doctors had identified the original cancer as colon. The next difficult part was the nature of the creatures as their tentacles reached throughout the body, gripping organs, blood vessels, nerves. Here, the battle would toughen, and his skills as a fighter tested.
Taking a final deep breath, and cradling the cup of hospital coffee, he headed down the hall to the patients' room. As he approached, he could see the darkness, the absence of the normal healthy light that surrounded healthy people instead the light he faced was a murky brown, the color of muddied river water that seemed to pool around his feet and pour out from the patients' bed, slowly, like a fog.
In the bed lay a man, propped up on a couple pillows reading the latest issue of GT Porsche magazine...the same one, in fact, that Reg had in his briefcase in his room down the hall. He chuckled and thought that this was a patient of his own heart, one worth his best efforts.
Above the bed hovered the creature. A pock-marked, undulating brown being, with dozens of blood red tentacles dangling over the patient. The tentacles seemed concentrated in a tight cord over the man's abdomen and chest, throbbing, pulling the life force up to the hovering mass.
Reg walked over to the patient, careful not to touch him, or the creature, until he was ready to start the battle.
"Hello, my name is Reg Ulargy, I am here to see if I can help the doctors in fighting your cancer," he waited for a response.
Folding over his magazine, and setting it on the side-table, the man tried to reach out to shake Reg's hand, but was quickly stopped by the IV hoses attached to his arm.
"Oh, sorry. I forget all the hoses. I'm Tim. Very nice to meet you. My doctor said they were bringing in a specialist to help me, that must be you." Tim said, smiling.
Continuing, Tim said, "Before you get started, I just wanted to say that I am ready for anything to beat this cancer. I have been poked at, radiated, drugged, operated on, and scanned. I am not about to stop now. I am up for what ever treatment options are available."
Encouraging. Reg thought, a fighter, that will help. "Good, because what I am about to try to explain to you will seem more like a science fiction story than medicine, but if you are willing to let me try, I will do my best to help."
The patient looked back at Reg with a gaze that signaled both hope and concern, "O.K., shoot. What do I need to do?"
"All you need to do, is lie back, and think about defeating your disease. Let me do the rest." Reg said, moving closer to the bed and getting comfortable in his chair. Taking one last sip of coffee, Reg reached out for his patient.
"Tim, give me your hand."
The patient reached out to Reg with his left hand. Reg took it into both of his. For an instant Tim thought he saw something hovering above him, and some kind of ropes dangling down, then he drifted off to sleep, thinking of a cure.
The instant Reg took hold of Tim's hand he felt the creature above the bed jerk. Immediately it emitted an ear splitting moan that nearly knocked Reg from his chair. A shimmering silver aura, that Reg was now used to enveloped the creature, Reg, and the room - allowing Reg to move freely to do battle with the creature.
As Reg circled the bed, new tendrils emerged from the top of the creature, snapping out at Reg, and when they made contact delivered an electrical charge that nearly knocked him over. Reg darted out of range of the next attack, another tendril moved in and Reg raised his hand and a blue light emitted from his palm, snapping back and whithering the tendril.
The battle continued like this for what seemed to Reg to be over an hour. The creature attempting to entrap Reg and attach to his own cancer cells, while Reg struggled to get at the cord of tendrils at the patients abdomen, ripping them out one at a time.
With each tendril destroyed the creature above shrank, becoming weaker, until Reg was finally able to get both hands on it, yanking it from over the patient. Focusing all his energy Reg delivered a final double handed strike and the creature withered and vanished in a shimmer of silver light. The room expanded, the shimmer dissipated and Reg fell, exhausted into the chair next to the patients bed.
The next thing Reg felt was someone shaking him by the shoulder, "Reg? Reg, are you alright?" It was Dr. Salszberg's voice.
"You were under for over an hour, we didn't know whehter or not to interfere or not, then you let out a scream and collapsed into the chair." the doctor explained.
"I...I...Think...so." Reg said, trying to sit upright. "I don't think I can stand up though."
"I'll get a nurse to bring a wheel chair, and take you to your room." the doctor turned towards the door. "Nurse, hustle up a wheel chair will you?"
"Take Mr. Haskins to radiology and get me a new CT scan, chest to pelvis, stat!" as the doctor barked out the order another nurse and orderly appeared and began to wheel the bed out of the room.
The nurse helped Reg into his bed and he collapsed quickly into a deep sleep.
Reg didn't know how long he slept, but as he woke, he noticed it was well into the night, as he tried to sit up, he saw at his side, the golden shimmer of Gloria sitting next to him, as always, the pleasant smile and comforting, grandmotherly aura surrounding her and enveloping him. As she spoke, Reg felt invigorated, energized enough to sit up.
"Once again, deary, you have done well. You are getting quite good at this! I am sooo proud of how far you have come on your journey." she said, patting his hand gently.
"But, the patient? How...is...he?" Reg struggled to continue.
"Did, I win, is the creature gone?"
"Yes, yes, don't you worry. The creature has been defeated, another chance for you to add another name to the 'Victory' column back at home.
Looking at Reg rather scornfully now, Gloria continued, "I think it has come time for you to make some decisions. It has also come time for me to let go, to let you grow."
"I have been watching you as you have grown into your new role, saving people, and have noticed the strain that this has put on your family."
"You, young man,are in danger of losing that lovely wife of yours if you do not discover some kind of balance between what it is you DO here, and what you need to do at home. I cannot help you in this, but can only say that I see a strength in you that can accomplish both." she explained.
Reg, sitting now and clearing his head, listened to Gloria. "Yes, I know. I have to figure out how to make room for both in my life. You have always been there to guide me on this side, but back in my day to day to life, it is just me."
"Don't be silly, sweetie, you have LOTS of help in the other world, just look around and see the people who love you, who need you. You will see their auras' strengthen as you learn to depend on THEM to help you." as Gloria spoke she reached behind her neck and undid the jewel that had always been there.
"Here, take this, you have earned it. It will allow you to draw on the power of one world while you are in the other, a way to recharge, as it were when you need to." she placed the necklace around Reg's neck and sat back, admiring her student like a proud teacher.
"Rest now, deary. Go back home tomorrow and take your family out to dinner, and tell them just how much you need them and love them. You will be surprised how long they have been waiting for you to tell them that."
"I will keep an eye on you, and will see you on your next adventure!
Meanwhile, in the life of Reg Ulargy - Chemo-Radiation Man...
CHAPTER 27 : "Your flight leaves at 9:00 a.m."
When we last visited Reg Ulargy, he was just beginning to come to grips with the new reality that his cancer experience, and subsequent treatment, has had on his life, and on the life of those around him....
Much like a WW-II fighter pilot who kept track of kills, Reg had done the same with his battles against the cancer-demons, but instead of painting flags of enemy nations on the fuselage of a plane, he simply wrote the names in one of two columns on the whiteboard hung above his recovery tank in what used to be the study of his home.
About a month or two into his new life as the unwilling superhero he discovered that running back and forth to the hospital to recover from each battle was simply not practical, so with the help of his medical team he had undertaken a remodeling project that called for the installation of his biomemedic gel tank, medical monitors, computer connections to the oncology team at the hospital and a small locker room, complete with a shower and changing room.
Staring now at the white board, sipping on a strong cup of Ethiopian Yigarcafe, Reg counted - in the 'Victory' column, on the left were 23 names, in the 'Loss' column, on the right were 4 names. At the very bottom of this column was written in red, and in parentheses was 'Polly??'
Initially, Polls had been very supportive of Regs' new found life as a cancer-curing super-hero, but it had worn on her. Even in the days when Reg had made his living as a prominent accountant - which required lots of extra hours at the office and at home in what used to be his study, she still saw more of her husband then, than she had in the last six months in his new role.
Reg sipped his coffee and remembered their last 'conversation', if you could call it that...
"This is it, Reg. I'm finished! This is the LAST time you are going to disappoint me and Lucy." she had just hustled Lucy into the car, buckled her in and slammed the door, turning her pent up frustration at Reg.
"Come on Polly, you know how it is. What am I supposed to do? Leave in the middle of a procedure and let some one DIE?"
He continued as he made his way around to the drivers side of her BMW, "I have a responsibility to these people."
"You have a RESPONSIBILITY to your FAMILY!" she responded, buclkling into her seat.
"You barely made the last five minutes of Lucy's performance and missed the last three shows all together. We are going to stay at my mothers' house until you figure out what is more important, being a damn Superhero, or being a father and husband. I love you, Reg, I really do, but I can't depend on you anymore to be there for US when WE need you."
The pinging of his computer notification snapped him back to the present, Reg rolled the metal stool from the edge of the tank to his computer workstation, clicked the mouse, and the screen lit up with the logo of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute in the middle of the screen. Another click and a video conferencing window opened up.
"Good morning, Mr. Ulargy. We have a special case for you.", it was Dr. Larry Salzberg, whose specialty was liver metastases. Reg had a felling of what was coming next, and it was not pretty.
"Hello, Larry." Reg said, settling in as he finished his coffee, setting the empty cup aside.
"What's up?"
"I have a patient here that needs your special help.", the doctor clicked away at a monitor just off camera.
"I will try to give you the short version. 48 year old male. His cancerous colon was removed a year ago, mets have appeared now in his liver and lung. We treated with the first two lines of chemotherapy, as is standard, with no improvement. In fact, he has gotten worse in the past several months."
Reg listened as he reached for the brew button on his Keurig to start a fresh cup of coffee.
"So, I take it the next step for him is some clinical trial or other? Why call me?"
"Well, Reg, actually the next drug trial we'd want him on doesn't open for about six months, I simply don't think he has that much time to wait. Reg, he needs your help." Dr. Salzberg looked down at a folder, flipped some pages.
"I have your room ready on the ward here. I have you booked for the 9:00 on Delta, we look forward to your help. See you this afternoon.
With one hand Reg grabbed the fresh mug of coffee, with the other he flipped open his cell phone and hit the preset for Polly at work.
A few moments later, he was greeted by his wifes' pleasing voice, always so nice to hear first thing in the morning, "Good morning, Polls. How are you this morning?"
A pause, as if she could tell what was coming, "Fine, Reg. I just got back from dropping Mom off at the salon, and Lucy at school. What is it?"
"Just checking to see what Lucy has coming up at school in the next few days", Reg said, trying to delay the news he new he had to deliver.
"Nothing special on her calendar, just the usual, school and lessons," Polly responded, the sound of dishes being done in the background.
"O.K. then. I just got a call to go to Sloan-Kettering, it might take a few days to sort this one out." Reg waited for the scathing blast that he was sure to get.
"Whatever, Reg. Just call when you get there, and try to let me know when you will be back, Lucy worries about you and misses you." Polly said, the dish washing sounds had stopped. Reg pictured here leaning against the counter her hair flowing down in front of her, the moisture from the dish washing condensing on her chest, the first button of her blouse undone.
"Do YOU miss me, Polls?" he asked.
A pause, "Yes, Reg. I do."
"I will call when I get settled on the ward," Reg said.
"Fine. Talk to you later," there was a quick click as she ended the call.
CHAPTER 28 : Once More Into The Breach
Reg made his way through the airport, took the hour long flight to JFK, hopped a cab to the hospital and checked into his room on the ward, a few moments later Dr. Salzberg showed up, iPad in hand, tapping, bring up details of the case.
"Good afternoon, Reg. I hope you're not too exhausted from the rush of the trip, I'd really like to begin as soon as possible.", he looked Reg, over.
"How much time do you need to prepare?" the doctor asked.
"Give me ten minutes and a good cup of coffee and I will be ready." Reg said.
Reg had learned over the past few months how to focus his mind and his body so that when he entered the room of a patient he could fully identify the creature he would be facing. He could now identify just how the creature gripped its victim. At this point, the battle would begin in earnest.
He really hated the metastatic creatures, they were the worst. First he had to identify their origin, in this case he had help. The doctors had identified the original cancer as colon. The next difficult part was the nature of the creatures as their tentacles reached throughout the body, gripping organs, blood vessels, nerves. Here, the battle would toughen, and his skills as a fighter tested.
Taking a final deep breath, and cradling the cup of hospital coffee, he headed down the hall to the patients' room. As he approached, he could see the darkness, the absence of the normal healthy light that surrounded healthy people instead the light he faced was a murky brown, the color of muddied river water that seemed to pool around his feet and pour out from the patients' bed, slowly, like a fog.
In the bed lay a man, propped up on a couple pillows reading the latest issue of GT Porsche magazine...the same one, in fact, that Reg had in his briefcase in his room down the hall. He chuckled and thought that this was a patient of his own heart, one worth his best efforts.
Above the bed hovered the creature. A pock-marked, undulating brown being, with dozens of blood red tentacles dangling over the patient. The tentacles seemed concentrated in a tight cord over the man's abdomen and chest, throbbing, pulling the life force up to the hovering mass.
Reg walked over to the patient, careful not to touch him, or the creature, until he was ready to start the battle.
"Hello, my name is Reg Ulargy, I am here to see if I can help the doctors in fighting your cancer," he waited for a response.
Folding over his magazine, and setting it on the side-table, the man tried to reach out to shake Reg's hand, but was quickly stopped by the IV hoses attached to his arm.
"Oh, sorry. I forget all the hoses. I'm Tim. Very nice to meet you. My doctor said they were bringing in a specialist to help me, that must be you." Tim said, smiling.
Continuing, Tim said, "Before you get started, I just wanted to say that I am ready for anything to beat this cancer. I have been poked at, radiated, drugged, operated on, and scanned. I am not about to stop now. I am up for what ever treatment options are available."
Encouraging. Reg thought, a fighter, that will help. "Good, because what I am about to try to explain to you will seem more like a science fiction story than medicine, but if you are willing to let me try, I will do my best to help."
The patient looked back at Reg with a gaze that signaled both hope and concern, "O.K., shoot. What do I need to do?"
"All you need to do, is lie back, and think about defeating your disease. Let me do the rest." Reg said, moving closer to the bed and getting comfortable in his chair. Taking one last sip of coffee, Reg reached out for his patient.
"Tim, give me your hand."
The patient reached out to Reg with his left hand. Reg took it into both of his. For an instant Tim thought he saw something hovering above him, and some kind of ropes dangling down, then he drifted off to sleep, thinking of a cure.
The instant Reg took hold of Tim's hand he felt the creature above the bed jerk. Immediately it emitted an ear splitting moan that nearly knocked Reg from his chair. A shimmering silver aura, that Reg was now used to enveloped the creature, Reg, and the room - allowing Reg to move freely to do battle with the creature.
As Reg circled the bed, new tendrils emerged from the top of the creature, snapping out at Reg, and when they made contact delivered an electrical charge that nearly knocked him over. Reg darted out of range of the next attack, another tendril moved in and Reg raised his hand and a blue light emitted from his palm, snapping back and whithering the tendril.
The battle continued like this for what seemed to Reg to be over an hour. The creature attempting to entrap Reg and attach to his own cancer cells, while Reg struggled to get at the cord of tendrils at the patients abdomen, ripping them out one at a time.
With each tendril destroyed the creature above shrank, becoming weaker, until Reg was finally able to get both hands on it, yanking it from over the patient. Focusing all his energy Reg delivered a final double handed strike and the creature withered and vanished in a shimmer of silver light. The room expanded, the shimmer dissipated and Reg fell, exhausted into the chair next to the patients bed.
The next thing Reg felt was someone shaking him by the shoulder, "Reg? Reg, are you alright?" It was Dr. Salszberg's voice.
"You were under for over an hour, we didn't know whehter or not to interfere or not, then you let out a scream and collapsed into the chair." the doctor explained.
"I...I...Think...so." Reg said, trying to sit upright. "I don't think I can stand up though."
"I'll get a nurse to bring a wheel chair, and take you to your room." the doctor turned towards the door. "Nurse, hustle up a wheel chair will you?"
"Take Mr. Haskins to radiology and get me a new CT scan, chest to pelvis, stat!" as the doctor barked out the order another nurse and orderly appeared and began to wheel the bed out of the room.
The nurse helped Reg into his bed and he collapsed quickly into a deep sleep.
Reg didn't know how long he slept, but as he woke, he noticed it was well into the night, as he tried to sit up, he saw at his side, the golden shimmer of Gloria sitting next to him, as always, the pleasant smile and comforting, grandmotherly aura surrounding her and enveloping him. As she spoke, Reg felt invigorated, energized enough to sit up.
"Once again, deary, you have done well. You are getting quite good at this! I am sooo proud of how far you have come on your journey." she said, patting his hand gently.
"But, the patient? How...is...he?" Reg struggled to continue.
"Did, I win, is the creature gone?"
"Yes, yes, don't you worry. The creature has been defeated, another chance for you to add another name to the 'Victory' column back at home.
Looking at Reg rather scornfully now, Gloria continued, "I think it has come time for you to make some decisions. It has also come time for me to let go, to let you grow."
"I have been watching you as you have grown into your new role, saving people, and have noticed the strain that this has put on your family."
"You, young man,are in danger of losing that lovely wife of yours if you do not discover some kind of balance between what it is you DO here, and what you need to do at home. I cannot help you in this, but can only say that I see a strength in you that can accomplish both." she explained.
Reg, sitting now and clearing his head, listened to Gloria. "Yes, I know. I have to figure out how to make room for both in my life. You have always been there to guide me on this side, but back in my day to day to life, it is just me."
"Don't be silly, sweetie, you have LOTS of help in the other world, just look around and see the people who love you, who need you. You will see their auras' strengthen as you learn to depend on THEM to help you." as Gloria spoke she reached behind her neck and undid the jewel that had always been there.
"Here, take this, you have earned it. It will allow you to draw on the power of one world while you are in the other, a way to recharge, as it were when you need to." she placed the necklace around Reg's neck and sat back, admiring her student like a proud teacher.
"Rest now, deary. Go back home tomorrow and take your family out to dinner, and tell them just how much you need them and love them. You will be surprised how long they have been waiting for you to tell them that."
"I will keep an eye on you, and will see you on your next adventure!
