Time. is. moving. sooo. slowly. TGIBS, Thank God It’s Baseball Season because it’s saving my chemo ass.

I’ve always loved baseball and I’ve been an unabashed Yankees fan since the mid-80’s, but I’ve never loved it more than I do now. It’s hard for me to focus and concentrate while I’m going through this wretched chemo. I can’t write and read as much or as quickly as I usually do. I’m not going out much because i don’t want to be in crowds while my immune system is compromised and I don’t have the energy anyway. What am I doing with my time? Sometimes I wonder about that. Mostly hanging around my house which has become like a beautiful prison, to quote a friend of mine who is also going through cancer treatment right now and experiencing a lot of the same things I am.

The two weeks after chemo go so slowly but I usually have no recollection of how I spent my time, other than watching the Yankees. I’ve been living out of the country for almost 10 years now, and the upside of this cancer mess and being in the US for treatment is that I can be in my home in Santa Fe, watching the YES network on cable TV. I can see every Yankees game clearly on the Yankees TV station instead of watching on my computer. No constant buffering and me shrieking about the damn Chinese or Italian internet connections. No more having to turn down the Cantonese commentary in Hong Kong on the TV and listening to the English commentary that lagged 10 or 20 seconds behind on the computer. Just a clear picture with sound in sync from the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network, every game introduced by the inimitable Bob Sheppard.

The Yankees games are a relief and are reliable. I know I’m going to have about 3 hours of time where I will be engaged, 6 days a week, at least 9 innings of baseball where one team will win (hopefully it’s the Yanks) and the team will come back tomorrow and play another game. This baseball season has been particularly good because it’s Derek Jeter’s, my favorite all-time player, last season. The standing ovations for him on the road have been amazing and he keeps reaching new milestones. I’m glad I can witness this clearly, though I wish I could get to Yankee Stadium for a game.

By the time baseball season ends, I’ll be finished with chemo and onto LA for 7 weeks of radiation. Hopefully, the radiation will be easier to get through than the chemo. I won’t have baseball any more to help get through it, but maybe I’ll have myself back. I’m looking forward to that.

Thanks for reading.