Here We Go

Tomorrow we travel to Houston. The day is upon us – Roy’s consultation with the Liver Tumor Center at Houston Methodist. We’re both a little on edge, wary, and hoping we leave the appointment with some concrete next steps, a list of appointments, and a sense of where this is headed. The Liver Tumor group is a new medical team for us; they do not know us (yet) and we want to have a good first meeting.

Roy is part of an online community, The Andy Polley’s Happy Fun Time Message Board Extravaganza aka “the Kornheiser Board,” which is in theory related to sports discussions, but over the years, from the periphery has seemed to delve into a little bit of everything. One of his compatriots suggested to him today that any cancer campaign has to have a theme. They asked him what his would be. And, he suggested that his theme, if he was going to have one, would be based on a Canadian comedy show called Shoresy from Hulu. Shoresy, features the Sudbury Bulldogs senior AAA hockey team and their rallying cry is “Set The Tone.” Roy explained this to me by sending me links to the store that feature a t-shirt/sweatshirt with the team’s mascot bulldog chomping down on a hockey stick between the words “Set” and “The” above the word “Tone.” The artwork is not mine to share, but you can check it out in the store if you like. Roy says that this is meaningful to him because he wants to go tomorrow and “Set The Tone” for how we will proceed as he starts treatments (and later gets evaluated for transplant). I have not watched this show (yet) but if this is his rallying cry, then I am happy to use it. And Roy says that this show is NSFW – lots of cursing but lots of heart.

Set The Tone

My star word for the year, drawn at random as part of Epiphany at church, is “Enough.” I have not yet determined what this word really means for me – it can go so many ways! – so many places it crops up. Nonetheless, I hope, in this context, that we can do enough, be enough, bring enough, and find enough (strength, patience, joy, laughter) to make this next chapter all it can be, while also trusting that there will be enough (time, love, expertise, care, energy, persistence, etc.) in each moment. This is my prayer.

Enough

And here we go.