Month: August 2021

When you name your dog Bear it can only mean a couple of things. One, that he’s a cute little furry fuzzy pup that resembles a cute little teddy bear. Two, he’s a stout guy, big barrel chested eighty pound bull of a dog. Or three, he’s just a freaking huge beast of a dog. Our Bear was an English Mastiff purebred that “Only” weighed 42 pounds at 12 weeks old. A shy gray and black brindle pup, Bear was so sweet and loveable. A gentle person in a sea of crazy wild brothers and sisters. The story goes that we were going to go to a breeder farm for the English Mastiff we were pursuing. It was in Lancaster and a long ride to check him out. The same day we had stopped at our friends Howard and Leslie Arensburgs house to wish their daughter luck on leaving for Boston and attending Boston University. Lindsay had just returned from her last day at her job at Petsmart. She had picked up on our conversation and let us know about a customer that had just wheeled in five Mastiffs in a shopping cart at the store trying to sell them! She had his phone number and we called to see if we could meet him. In a short explanation, the owner and his wife recently split up and they needed to move the pups. She would come in the morning to feed and watch them, the mom and pop dogs also, and before the husband came home, the wife would remove a piece of furniture without him knowing. It was a tough situation….the dogs needed homes. We chose mild mannered pup and named him…”Bear”. Now, Bear liked to eat! His average meal, once a day, was a large bowl of dry Beneful chunk dog food, then mixed in with two cans of Alpo beef chunks wet food. That was a twenty pound bag of dry food and 14 cans a week of wet foods. From 42 pounds at twelve weeks old to 202 pounds in about a year and a half. He was a monster! The sweetest monster of a dog around. He loved our boys!

Bear used to go to the jewelry store too. He would lay around the back and just sleep unless something caught his eye. If so, he would jump up with both paws on top of the counter and bark. That was scary!! He was like 7 ft tall on his hind legs ! Bear would also wrestle with our boys gently tossing them around at home. With me, forget it. It was war! And he always won. What a battle! We went at it hard. He knew though when to let up on me. I was still his master. He never wore a collar or a leash. Super smart and obedient, we sometimes forgot that we had let him outside and didn’t let him back in. No fence, no gates, no worries. He would just hang out back on the deck until we got home. Good boy! He would sleep with the boys and nap on the sofa while we were out. Poop cleanup was no fun. Monsters make monsters…lol. He never begged or ate table food. Well, hardly ever, his chin could rest on our dinner table. What a wonderful addition to our family. We all adored the big lug, and he us. Welcome Bear!

Next Up: Feeling Great and the Next “Team Belaggio” Is Underway

I grew up in a dog family. Lots of dogs. Lots. Troy, Mutley, Sam, Mandy, Snoopy. Jenna and Beau were my first pups that I adopted when I had moved out on my own. Zero was actually my first shelter but he lasted only a few days unfortunately. The dog was insane. I found him a good home though. Jenna and Beau were small rescues, a Cockapoo and a Bichon, great dogs who I also had to give away after a few years because of my work schedule. I just couldn’t be there enough for them. Jenna went to my parents and Beau to a great friend of mine. Both dogs lasted loyally to their end, almost 18 years old each. They were wonderful animals and friends.

My next buddy would be a magnificent animal named Diablo. A huge Rottweiler that I got as a pup. He was twelve weeks old when I picked him up and our journey together was awesome. I specifically wanted a Rottweiler to offer protection in my store in North Philadelphia. As he grew larger and more intimidating, I enrolled him in a twelve week obedience and attack training school which he would stay at for the duration. I was allowed to visit and train alongside of him every two weeks until he graduated. Worth every penny. I dropped Diablo off as an unassuming, sweet pup and got back a killing machine. Trained in German commands, he could be turned on and off in an instant and was remarkably obedient in every way. Also, the same lovable, sweet dog I dropped off three months before, when he was home with our family. The transformation was truly remarkable. When he attacked the handlers in training he was scary. Diablo went to work with me everyday, relaxing behind the counter and I even pierced his ear with a diamond stud! Everyone loved that. I would have one of the Philadelphia Police canine officers come into the store, every six months, and act nefariously and Diablo would launch himself over the counter and attack him. Of course, the officer wore protection. I will not go into detail, but Diablo handled some serious business that saved my ass two times. Like I said, “Worth every penny!”. Diablo became another casualty of my Leukemia and we had to give him away before my bone marrow transplant. Lori could not handle him with everything going on. It broke our hearts. He retired to a great home with kids and his new owner, a Philadelphia police officer. After I recovered from my transplant, maybe about two years later, we got to visit him and Nick got to hug his buddy while Joey got to meet him too. I got a sad call that he had passed from cancer a little while later.

Soon after, we decided it was time to have another dog join the family… Jackie. She was a crazy Jack Russell terrier that you would think was drinking Monster energy drinks 24 hours a day…I was warned. We crated her to no avail. Every morning we would wake up she was caked in poop. Awful. She could jump straight up in the air like four feet horizontally and grab things off of the kitchen counter! Jackie didn’t last long. One day, the boys were playing with her in Joey’s room. I heard a huge thud. Nick screamed that Jackie…”Was Dead!” I ran upstairs and found out that she nipped Joe when he picked her up and he had inadvertently thrown her into the wall. Joe was about five years old at the time. Jackie wasn’t dead, she was out cold. OMG! We found her a great home with my employee Becky. Becky and her husband Johnny were seniors. Jackie was a loyal companion to them and outlasted both of them. It was a perfect fit. They adored her.

Next up was Sarge. The boys were a little older now and I saw his picture in the local newspaper on Christmas eve. An older Redbone Coonhound with a grey beard, I thought that maybe an older rescue would be the ticket. I went early that morning to see him since it was like the busiest day of the year for me. The SPCA employee told me that this was the end for him because he was there over six months and was abandoned to them from a family that was relocating. The employees loved him there. Sarge was a gentleman. He walked on the leash very obediently and was very lovable. I brought him to work and then home afterwards to the boys delight. The first night he proceeded to chew the moulding off of our office door until I went downstairs and let him out. He took off upstairs and promptly went to sleep at the foot of our bed. Problem solved. We only had Sarge for nine months. He tried to steal a piece of pizza from Joey, almost biting his hand off. This was not normal for him. I took him to the Vet the next day only to find out that his former owners had dropped him off at the SPCA because he had cancer, nobody knew. The tumor that they found on his spleen was the size of a football. I couldn’t even take him home to say goodbye to the boys. Sarge had to be put down right away. It was a sad day. The vet brought him into his office where I said my goodbyes. He wagged his tail and licked my face. So sad. We would wait a while before getting our next pet. It was hard on us all.

Next up: Bear

April ,May and June of 2004 we were cruising. Nicky was shining at UM baseball and making great strides on the Saxophone at school as well as straight A’s…of course. Joey was lighting up the ice, scoring many game winning goals and played great in our first ever tournament. Finally….good times!

Now, with my new found remission, it was time for me to give back…in a big way. Over the past seven years, I had put together several “Light the Night” walks. These fund raising walks were started by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America to raise funds for their cause and allow the survivors and those who had passed a moment of recognition and acknowledgement of those inflicted with Leukemia and Lymphoma and the battle fought. A very touching and emotional event where friends, family and boosters carry red balloons with white lights in side and survivors carry white balloons signifying their status as such. We march in the thousands through streets and promenades around the country raising funds and creating awareness for the cause. It was a great event.

My Family and I walked in several events with other family and friends. We raised funds for our participation and the wonderful cause. I now felt that It was time to rachet up the fundraising. Create an event of our own where all proceeds raised would benefit the Society. This event would become “Team Belaggio”. Our team would create the first ever “Team Belaggio Golf Classic”! A golf tournament and dinner to have fun and raise money. Our first tournament would be held at the Northampton Valley CC in Richboro, PA. A great colf course with banquet facilities and the ability to handle a large outing. The perfect spot. I was very new to this but being a born leader, ha-ha, I took the reins on a beautiful Monday morning and orchestrated a 144 golfer event with a 200 person banquet dinner after golf. It went great! Barking out orders to all of my volunteer family and friends, who were starting to hate me, we ran everything as smooth as possible. We had raffles going on, gift basket and prize packages donated, special events and contests on the course as well as food and drink all day. The event was spectacular and everyone very generous. After beginning about 6 am and ending finally around 10 pm, I was whipped. We all were. The September event raised almost $15,000 dollars for the Leukemia Society and made a lot of people very happy. My Doctors from Hanahmen were there as well as Dr. Terzian from Frankford too! A great time had by all!

I slept in a little the next morning. I had been going balls out for many weeks and extra crazy the last few days up to the event. It was an enormous amount of work but well worth it. It was Tuesday morning and my next job was to drive down to the Philadelphia International Airport area where the offices of the Leukemia Society were located. I wanted to get the proceeds from the event to the directors of the Society as soon as possible. My boys and my neighbor Fred Meyers agreed to take the ride with me. We took off down I-95 south and were on our way when I started feeling very ill. I had no idea what was happening but I was in extreme abdominal pain. I managed to get into the offices and hand over the proceeds but excused myself immediately. This was bad.

We made it back to the car and I almost incoherently drove us all to Hanahmen Hospital, doubled over in horrible pain. I told Fred to drop me off at the ER and take the boys home. Tell Lori that I will call her when I knew what was happening. I basically crawled into the ER and signed myself in. I needed to be in a bathroom immediately. I had horrible pain in my back and couldn’t urinate even though I had a huge urge to do so. I remained in the bathroom stall for an hour or more before crawling again to the nurses station. “Sorry…not yet” they said. Finally they took me back because I told them that my doctor was Dr. Dave in Oncology. Finally!! The ER staff thought that I came off the street trying to get drugs. Nice job, eh. Diagnoses…Kidney stones! OMG!! FREAKING AWFUL!!! IV painkillers made the situation better and I spent the night passing this SOB. Dr. Dave said that I was very dehydrated and exhausted from the prior day. Probably caused the stone. I got out of the hospital the next day and proceeded home to rest as per my docs.

Team Belaggio was a great success. The Leukemia Society was very impressed with our first attempt at being a fundraising player and plans were already in the works for outing number two! This was giving back and I owed it to them. We’ll up our game next year. Now, I gotta pee. HORRIBLE!!

Next up: Pups

As we navigated a very challenging holiday season between our second year at the new location and the tragedy that had occurred with Nonno, we moved into the new year…2004. Nonno was hanging in there with a brain injury that left him in need of constant medical care. After life saving surgery and many prayers, he was recovering slowly in a rehabilitation facility. Lori was making constant trips to NYC every weekend to help with his care as well as continuing her studies at school. With everything going on and taking care of the boys, our hands were full. Nevertheless, it was nothing short of a miracle that Nonno survived such a terrible fall. Literally.

A short time after Nonno’s fall, a neighbor that lived across the street, noticed that the tree at the end of Nonno’s driveway where he had fallen, had a very unusual image in it’s trunk. It was an image of the Virgin Mary… “Our Lady of Guadalupe”. A distinct pattern in the bark that evoked a huge outpouring of emotion by devout Catholics that came from far and wide to see it. I could never make this up! There were newspaper articles being written of Nonno’s story and the Miracle that may have befallen him because of the holy apparition in the young Maple tree by the curb. Pilgrimages were being made to the site and so many offers of candles, religious articles, photographs of people needing prayers, flowers and you name it being left at its base. Cars were parked two deep for weeks as the offerings continued to pile up. Crazy.

Meanwhile, another miracle of sorts was occurring. As Nonno continued his long road to what everyone was hoping would be a recovery, I was awaiting the results of my latest round of bloodwork. The usual PCR test that would show the amount or percentage of Leukemic cells in my marrow. Since my entry into the FDA drug trial for Gleevec, in 2000, the percentage of abnormal or cancerous cells had reduced ever so slowly. Every three months after the trial had ended, we repeated the process of drawing my blood and waited the ten days to two weeks it took for the results to come back. Around four years later, the elusive 5 log reduction in the amount of the abhorrent CML causing protein still eluded me. The call came about two weeks after my appointment, sometime in mid to late April. Dr. Dave gave me the good news. I was completely negative. No sign of Leukemia in my blood. Hallelujah! This was my miracle. Again.

I gathered myself. This was a very emotional moment for me. I needed to tell Lori right away and then tell my parents. A welcome respite at such a tough time. I dialed the phone to my parents home to tell them the good news and they each picked up the phone at the same time. “I’m cancer free”, I told them. They were so happy. We cried a bit and I let them know that Dr. Dave assured me that we could finally relax. The drug was working fabulously, across the board, with so many patients new and old. My mom noticed that I wasn’t very jubilant or overjoyed at the moment. My tone was not as excited as theirs, I guess, and she asked what the issue was. For her, after she was proclaimed cancer free with her bout with Colon Cancer, it was one of the happiest moments in her life. I was full of mixed emotions. I asked my mom, ” Do you remember how you felt when the doctor told you that you were cancer free”? “Amazing”, she said. ” Do you remember how you felt when they told you that it came back again”? Silence. My mom’s battle with Colon Cancer was fought and won without relapse. I was not so lucky. She said that she understood. When you are told that you have cancer, the news is devastating. When you are told that after lengthy, painful yet successful treatment, that you are cancer free, it is liberating. To be told that your cancer has then returned again is beyond devastating. The absolute worst. I would never be able to rest easy again.

The “Rock” is what I call it. An imaginary boulder held by a thread above my head. Just waiting for the next opportunity to drop and crush my world. For now, I’ll revel in the moment. I had been waiting so long to hear that magic word again…”Remission”. How glorious it is. Hopefully, for a while, a long while, I’ll remain in its good graces.

Next up: Giving Back

The fall season was approaching rapidly as well as our first Mite league hockey team hitting the Delaware Valley Hockey League Ice…The Wintersports Royals. Fifteen little 7 and 8 year old brawlers ready to start their illustrious careers as hockey players. It would be the beginning of an eighteen year career for one special, talented, young hockey player named Joey Keenan. A career that he could write “his” own book about. It was also our second Christmas season at the new store on Cottman Avenue. Busy,busy,busy! Everything was coming together and a smooth transition into the selling season was flowing. The team at Belaggio Jewelers was well prepared for the onslaught of merry shoppers and were so well trained at this point. This year should be perfect. I was feeling well too. My platelet and Hemoglobin counts were trending higher and almost to the point of perfection. Lori was settling into her Masters program at Arcadia University and, of course, doing quite well. We had a lot to be thankful for. Unfortunately, bad luck just seems to follow us and the next issue was usually lying in wait.

The snow was coming down at a frenetic pace. Heavy flakes piling up all over the Bronx, NY. Lori relocated to Philadelphia from her hometown, the Bronx, in New York City. A tight knit neighborhood of Italian immigrants and families in a section called Morris Park is where she grew up. When you went food shopping you hit several stores along the way. The bread store, the bakery, the butcher shop, the cheese shop and the pasta store. A time capsule of sorts. The first time that I met Lor’s dad I was greeted with a huge spread of italian lunch meats, loaves of Italian bread and cheeses, etc. Come Eat!! You’re hungry right?!. He was a very humble man with a heavy Italian accent. A retired master of Butchery whom after owning butcher shops in the city assumed a 20 year career at the prestigious CIA, the Culinary Institute of America where many of the greatest chefs of all time are developed. Italo Peduzzi was a wonderful man who loved his family and adored his grandchildren. They called him “Nonno”.

The snow fell harder and became deeper as it piled upon the pavement. It tended to do that in mid December in New York. Nonno had decided at the time to hang some Christmas ornaments along the balcony fencing on their front porch above the driveway underneath. The ladder he was using was set at the bottom of the snow covered driveway, protruding up to the edge of the porch railing, set in the snow at a precarious angle. Unfortunately, the ladder slipped beneath him on the snowy pavement. Nonno fell about seven feet down and landed on his head. He was out cold and bleeding from his head. Lucky for him, a Resident doctor working at nearby Jacoby Hospital was walking to work, found him, and dialed 911. He was rushed to the ER in grave condition.

We got the call in Philadelphia about Nonno’s situation quickly and Lor was on her way to the Bronx. Nonno was in very serious condition with a head injury and it was touch and go for a while. His injury left him partially disabled for a time and the family pulled together to try to make him whole again. His memory had been affected but his face would light up like the sun when his grandkids came to visit. Another tough Holiday season for all again this year. Nonno went through some tough times over the next few months and was never able to recuperate fully. Lori spent many weekends in New York faithfully attending to her father’s needs with her family and returning to go to school and take care of us during the week. We could only hope that his condition would improve.

Next Up: Miracles and Mixed Emotions

We were settling into a period of normalcy that had eluded my family for years. It was the spring of 2003 and I was beginning to feel like my old self. My appetite was tremendous now and I was getting used to the medication that for as far as I knew, I would be taking for the rest of my life. Remission still eluded my PCR testing and the reduction in the Leukemia markers were moving ever so slowly…. In the right direction though. The new store was humming along and keeping me very busy as well as coaching the boys in hockey and soccer too. I loved coaching those kids. Lori had been working as the director of the classified department at the Carrier Pigeon newspaper for many years and was always busy at her job. Very good at it too. She was an extremely dedicated employee wherever she worked. A graduate of Manhattan College in New York majoring in Computer Science, she was one of the smartest women I’d ever known. She gave up an effluent position in Technical computer related sales in NYC to move to Philadelphia when we got engaged. But there was a problem. The Carrier Pigeon was closing its doors. For good.

Lori’s job was very important to our family. Besides helping carry us through a lot of our financial burden during my illness and lack of working for so long, she was the source of our healthcare benefits. My new medication alone cost $10,000 per month besides all of the other doctor and hospital visits required for my ongoing care. Her company closing and the loss of our benefits would be a huge blow. What’s going to happen now? Luckily, I was back earning full time at the store and financially, things were improving rapidly. She would also collect unemployment for a while but we would have to join the Cobra plan her company offered to keep our health insurance. We thought that there wasn’t much else that we could do. Fortunately, a friend alerted me to, and I was able to join the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce and become a part of their insurance network. The savings were excellent and I would now take over the responsibility through my business.

Lor was now at a crossroads situation in her career. The print advertising business was in decline as the advent of the internet was weighing heavily on the industry. Should she look for a new job in the same field or change careers entirely? This was a big decision. Enter Marie Giralamo. Marie was one of Lori’s oldest and dearest friends. Marie had decided to begin a new career recently and was studying in the field of Library Science. A degree in Library Science provided many avenues of employment in schools, universities, corporations, etc. Interesting she thought. Lor asked me, “What if I pursue a degree in the same venue?” So, we explored the opportunity. Her decision would be to pursue a Masters in Education degree with a concentration in Library Science. This would require two years of full time study at Arcadia University in Glenside, PA. A huge commitment, but an equally huge reward. She deserved the break, if you want to call it that. The past six years were hell on her. We would get through it. After a quick interview and enrollment period, Lor would again become a college student. Summer of 2003 start. Before we would know it, she would become an Elementary school Librarian. Six semesters of hard work, long nights of studying and multiple certifications later, her Masters Degree would be in the books! Literally. The boys and I were so proud of her commitment. This decision would prove to be huge for our family going forward. Gitter done Mom!

Next Up: Nonno