Margret Sloan

Watching the ESPY’s awards show today I was happy to see Robin Givens on the stage as a presenter for the “Perseverance Award” to Kevin Everett, the football player who suffered a broken neck on the game field. He actually overcame the injury with top notch surgeons who operated on him and intensive physical therapy that helped turn around the first diagnosis of “you’ll never walk again” to “miracle recovery.”

Everett was able to walk onto the stage to accept the award, and it brought tears to everyone’s ears during a standing ovation. What an awesome moment and testimony to the mantra, “Don’t Give Up.”

There’s a commercial airing now that strikes close to home. It’s called “Stand Up To Cancer” and shows dozens of different TV and movie stars standing up solemnly where the narrator speaks the message. It brought back memories of my own fight against cancer and how much I owe my mother and stepfather for their help and support during that awful time.

My cancer treatments were completely debilitating. I could barely function at all for four months while I underwent intensive radiation therapy. There was no way I could work at all, or even take care of my family. It was horrible to be so sick, helpless, and dependent on others with no real timeline or even hopeful prognosis for a recovery. Thanks to my parents and my grandmother, and the best doctors in the world, I was able to get through those terrible months, but the bills pilled up and that was probably the worst financial situation I’ve ever been in and recovering from a serious illness plus recovering from extreme financial distress took a very long time.

For some people in similar or sadly worse situations, all they can do is run up the bills for as long as they can and then try to file for Bankruptcy. I know there have been recent changes to the bankruptcy laws that make it more difficult to file, but I surely hope that honest people who have to face a serious or life threatening illness still have some hope of help with their finances.

I know that if anyone in my family or circle of close friends has to go through what I did, that I will be there at their side to help them through it as much as I possibly can. That’s what family and real friendship is for.

Well, we took more blood tests on my pup and he has been doing real good on the meds. The vet says to keep him on the current dosage and bring him back in 30 days for a follow up of blood tests to make sure.

He’s been acting normal and eating regular food and doing everything like he was before he got sick, so that’s good news. Look at him sitting so pretty for me:

Pup has been doing OK although I can tell when the meds start to kick in, about 10 minutes or so after I give it to him. When they take effect he gets a little sleepy and wants to cuddle. That’s so sweet and I love cuddling him anyway.

I haven’t left him alone all weekend and have watched him like a hawk. So far, so good, thank goodness.

Years ago I would keep a backgammon board in the car. It looked like a little grey leather briefcase, with two luggage latches and leather handle. Inside were the dice and markers, a deck of cards, and an envelope with two dollars worth of quarters. Every time we went to the emergency room, one of us would grab the backgammon board to take in with us, so we had something to do and keep us distracted for the 4- 6 hours wait time we would have to endure. We would play backgammon or Acey Deucey for hours, and even taught the ER registration clerk how to play one night when it was very slow.

Now I play backgammon online when I need a mental health break from the busy days around here. I love the way you can go online and jump into a game with a worthy opponent with almost no wait time to find another player. I’ve had the same screen name for years, and now there are dozens of other players who recognize my name and will search me out for a game or two.

Interesting how the only way I ever would have met these wonderful people is over the internet. All those terrible days and nights of waiting in the hospital emergency rooms have evolved into friendships with people from all over the world who share the same interest and passion for a game of online backgammon.

Some of us play in online backgammon tournaments, too. Those are great fun and a better test of skill and staying power than just a casual game or two. If you can win 8 or 9 games in a row, then you are a deserving champion or very very very lucky.