Second Day of Third Cycle

This is the second day of my Third (of Six) cycles of treatment.  Technically, my second day, since it is about 2 a.m. (the steroids are working).

Notable events

• dinner last evening with a long-time friend who had his own cancer diagnosis--we end up connecting with others around shared pains, which I suppose is a good thing if we reflect and learn rather than merely commiserate--some good reflecting and learning took place in our time together.
• first mention of "Complete Remission" (CR) yesterday by Dr. Choi who is running this clinical trial.  

Note:  CR's are good but are not the 'holy grail' of treatment.  Two other considerations are the durability of the remission (this being a clinical trial, we can only make guesses, hopefully 2+ years) and the hope for Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) which basically means that at the conclusion of the trial, the most powerful tests available do not show the disease in the bone marrow (which is where it originates).  

A CR is certainly a good thing and does suggest the possibility for a few (or a lot) more 'good' days (my friend last night reminded me we all face the possibility of mortality daily in various forms--I get that a lot).

But a CR is basically just "good", not necessarily important.  I find myself often remembering a statement Stephen R. Covey (of Seven Habits fame) used to make to the effect that being "good" is good but being good for something worthy is far better.  My application would be:  It is good that I apparently get a few more days but it would be far better if they are invested strategically.  Aye, there's the rub.

I am amazed by two things:

• how many resources are available to us (technology, education, global and instant communication, to name a few)
• how these resources are double-edged swords in that each of them carry the potential for greatness and the potential for waste (Solomon was right when he said there was no end to the writing [or reading] of books)

So, yesterday was a 'good' day, all in all, I hope your journey is also going well. How is your 'waste/worthiness ratio' going?