June 27, 2011 11:00 AM

Time for a weekend recap!

I forgot to mention an unplanned highlight from our ballpark tour on Friday night. We encountered a scout from the San Francisco Giants. So what, you say! Well, if you recall, the Giants won the World Series last fall. What does that mean? Well, it means that the scout was sporting the World Series Championship ring that the Giants gave to all their players and staff. What a sight! It was huge! And, of course, he was very proud of it - especially after having been with the organization for 37 years. That was a special treat! I had never seen a championship ring before.

On Sunday, I made my "first connection" call - speaking to a woman in North Dakota for two hours. It's tough for some of these people because the path forward is not always clear cut. Options are presented in various ways and decisions have to be made. Obviously, making the wrong ones can have devastating results. I was fortunate(!) in that I really had no choice with what I had to do so there were no real decisions to make. Of course, I can't tell anyone what to do but I can suggest that they seek additional input from various sources in order to assist them in the process. Even with her predicament, this woman was very upbeat and positive and I find that so uplifting for myself as well.

One of my daughters sponsored a cosmetics party on Saturday run by a woman who donates all of the proceeds to our local Lions Club that uses them to help people with eye issues. I spent the day there talking with people and met a friend of my daughters whose 12 year old son was stricken with a blood cancer disease two years ago. She has had to devote her time to getting him back to "normal" ever since. We shared war stories. However, it is hard for me to project my story onto his as a child's life differs so much from mine. Why me, peer pressure, and other elements come into play that I did not have to directly face. It's especially tough for children and their families.

Are the photophoresis treatments working? The answer is a definite maye even though it is still early in the program. I used to get cramps in my legs at night - that does not happen anymore. Have there been other improvements? I think that it's a little too early to tell but, most certainly, there has not been an detrimental side effects.

So far, so good...

Bob