WHAT ??????

 Can this really be happening ???? Can I get tickets now ? Can someone get AK to open for them ? I'm deadly serious right now !

FIRST SHOW IN 8 MONTHS !

 Last night I went to my first show in over 8 months . I wanted to go to both a venue that means something to me , and also to see bands that mean something .

I opted for The Dayglos show at The Phoenix last night , and it was fucking awesome . They were so tight and aggressive , and didn't let up for their entire set . Marc is a fucking beast on the drums . I have so much respect for him . Of course it was amazing to be out in public again , even if both my doctor and my sister would kill me if they knew I was hanging in a small space with such a large crowd. I feel great today and it was all worth it . I almost teared up , barely believing I was at a show again . 

Thank you to The Dayglos , Big Rick , Jym , Clancy , and everyone else who was there .

EXIL

 If you're not listening to Swedish band Exil right now, what's stopping you ?

ONE MORE STEP

 I practiced with AK for the first time in 8 months tonight , and it went far better than expected . I limited myself to singing 5 songs , and I barely sounded like Mr. Burns at all ! My voice was pretty rough by the time we were done , but it was totally worth it and we'll do it again next week. It felt so good to actually feel semi-normal again . Re-learning the newer songs will be easier than I thought it would be . I'm looking forward to every second of this .

Don Denton photo

KEEP ON MOVING

As I've said, living at the apartment was better than staying at The Lodge , although I have no real complaints about it . It just felt more like a real living situation , even with the outpatient things going on weekly .

I was pretty weak when I got there . The first day I walked around the block with my sister, and it exhausted me . Taking a shower made me tired, to the point that I had to lay down on the couch to recover from it . Ridiculous , but very real . I was, and still am , impatient to get back to work and have everything as normal as I can get it . I'm even going to try and practice with AK this week . It'll probably be a short one , but I need to push myself . I keep saying that  my lung capacity is probably like Montgomery Burns' right now .  Smithers ! I'll let you know how it went .

READMISSION

 I got readmitted to the hospital on Sept.23rd ( I think ) , and they started with the heavy chemo almost immediately. The wound care nurse kept working on my foot , and they completed the Bone Marrow Transplant on October the 4th. I was weak as hell, but went for a walk around the ward the day after the transplant. The doctor said he'd never seen that before, but there plenty of days I didn't get out of bed , either. Apparently I was recovering okay , so they sent me to be an outpatient a little bit early , October the 23rd. This time we didn't stay at The Cancer Lodge , but at an apartment the Cancer Society runs on 11th ave. That was so much better. I still had ( and have ) a lot of recuperating ahead of me .

MARCHING ON

 During my time waiting to go back into the hospital, my kids came and visited me for four days . It was so good to see them , especially since I knew I wouldn't be home for Christmas , my first one without them . When it was time for them to go , I bawled my eyes out . It's not something I do , but a lot had changed at that point .

I kept going for long walks , knowing that the weather would get shitty soon enough . I discouraged anyone coming to visit from out of town , mainly because things could change from one day to the next , and I'd hate for anyone to come all the way from Victoria to Vancouver only to have me say that I was too sick or just tired , but I had some great people in town who were unwavering with their optimism and support for me , and of course my sister was always there .

Now take a moment and listen to Public Enemy's Muse Sick 'N' Hour Mess Age .  I love this album , and my cassette from 1994 still plays beautifully .

Good day to you .