The common response I get from so many well-wishers is "if anyone can beat this thing...", "go kick cancer's a_ _", "cancer has no idea who it's messin' with". It probably goes without saying, but I'm a very competitive guy. I'm the guy who rides solo on the trail and trash talks himself into riding faster, climbing harder or dropping a new personal-best time for a particular ride. I sometimes laugh at myself when I pick the wrong line or just have a poor ride, goading myself into repeating the same ride the following day just to prove I'm better - prove to who? Me, looking for approval from myself. Who does that?? OK, I do know a few of you!
But with cancer, I've taken a different trail. I'm not repeating those statements above or setting out to beat cancer. I respect what cancer has done to so many and can do to me, so I'm not calling it out, not going to trash talk it into submission, don't want it to know who it's messin' with...I simply want to do everything possible to remove it from my body. End of story. As uncompetitive as that is for me. Why, you ask? I've heard too many people boldly put their heads up and scream out their battle cry against cancer, only to lose a battle based mainly on bravado - If I say I'm going to beat it, I'll beat it. They let cancer know they're coming, so their focus is on battle, not the fight. I'm following my treatment plan to the letter, staying within my diet, researching additional things that can deliver the best result and most important, I'm living as normal a life as possible.
As I started to pen this this morning, I'm reminded of one of my favorite business stories. Our small beverage company had just purchased a very popular brand that had eroded over 3 years while owned by a very large global consumer products co. We now had clout with our retailers and were ready to beat our chests and return this brand to the market leader it once was. Our CEO was too smart to allow that to happen and shared a video with us - two moose in the doorway of a post office (in his analogy - beverage giants Coke & Pepsi) with a man (us) trying to gain access. The man looks for ways to get around them and eventually bull-rushes toward the door between the moose. They proceed to stomp him senseless for his act of stupidity - raising his head and declaring his battle against more-than-formidable competitors (video states no animals were hurt in the making of this video - but no mention about the rag doll!). Our CEO employed a very effective strategy - don't raise the attention of your adversary, put your head down and go about your business. I've embraced his strategy as part of my plan.
My life is about as normal as it can be. Chemotherapy is now 40% complete and Radiation is almost 25% done, and I have ZERO side effects!! I continue to ride, ski, workout and the best news to my amazing colleagues at PNC - I'm at work every day at 5:30am (taking a few minutes out to write this blog - sorry, consider it a union break!) All of the critical indicators - blood count, platelet count and other measures - are ALL within NORMAL range! Praise the Lord and pray I continue down that road!!
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