Month: June 2023

Thanks! Thank you! Thank you so much! Appreciate it! Appreciate you! Words we use to express our sincere gratitude for anything from the smallest of kind gestures to the greatest act of all…whatever that may represent. We say these words every day. Sometimes many times. Today, I counted about seven or eight times that I expressed my gratitude….maybe more. For the very last entry to my story, I will be using these words of gratitude over and over again. I hope you understand. Now, from the beginning, here we go.

Thank you, Dr Edward Ciecko, for asking me to take a blood test the first time we met… “For the record”. May you rest in peace.

Thank you, Dr. Lor Terzian, for immediately diagnosing my CML and breaking it to my wife and me… gently.

Thank you, to all of the great Doctors and Nursing staff at Hanahmen Hospital who cared for me for 22 years.

Thank you, to all of my great friends who helped out, listened, and put up with me for all of these years. You know who you are.

Thank you, to Dr. Selina Luger and her staff at University of Pennsylvania cancer center for my relapse care and future care.

Thank you, to all of my great and loyal customers who are always asking about my well being and supported my business for so many years.

Thank you, to all of the wonderful employees that have worked at Belaggio Jewelers throughout the years, especially during the first four years of my ordeal. And to my trusted sidekick, Nadine. Appreciate you so much!

Thank you, appreciate you and all of the above to Dr. Dave Topolsky. The man that looked me in the eye and told me that he would never let me die. What an amazing adventure we had! Miss you buddy.

Thank you to my late in-laws, Nonno and Nonna Peduzzi for their great help and support. We miss you.

Thank you so much to my brother Glenn, for giving me the gift of life, and my sisters, Donna and Lisa for all of your love and support when we needed it most.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you…Mom and Dad. For all of your love and support in every possible way. From day one, through the worst of times and the best. My appreciation is immeasurable.

To Nick and Joe….Thank You So Much! You guys were my reason to live. “Never Ever Give Up”. The wisdom of my Disney rock. I have lived by those words since the day I kissed your beautiful head, Nick, while you slept the morning I left to have my Bone Marrow Transplant. And Joe, in mommy’s belly, I needed to meet you. Nothing would stop me. Watching you being born the day after I finally got released from the hospital was breathtaking. Both of you guys have grown up to become such fine young men. A testament to your Mom and your own strength as you had to constantly see me sick and in the hospital when you were just little boys. You guys are just amazing! I’m proud beyond words! Love you!

These words of “Thanks” just aren’t enough for my last gesture. “I Love You” , “I Appreciate You”, “I Thank You” and “I Adore You”! To my beautiful wife, Lori-Ann, I could never express fully the gratitude I have for you being in my life. We have gone through so many good times, bad times, great times and sad times throughout the last thirty-four years. Here we are though. We made it! There were many times that I thought, “How does she do it!”. Taking care of a 2 1/2 year old, eight and nine months pregnant, working full time and driving to center city every night to the hospital to visit me. For two months! Just amazing! Through so many tough years while fighting my Leukemia, the financial issues that accompanied it, always making sure the boys were good and working so hard. Accomplishing so many things career wise and supporting the boys dreams and mine. So proud! We have grown so much together. I apologize for the tough times and the rough times. I just know, that through it all, we’re better for it. We’re stronger for it. Thank you again…and again….Lor…I love you.

Well this is “The End.” Thanks! Thank You! Appreciate you! …all for reading my story. I hope it helped inform you, enlighten you and brought you joy!

Jeff

Wow! It is officially three years since I began writing my story. One-hundred and sixty four entries to date. A blog that would chronicle my life from the day I was diagnosed with Leukemia. The premise of revealing my life to the world was essentially a form of personal therapy. A release from the boredom of the Covid shutdown. Netflix was just not doing it for me anymore. Well, I saved a lot of cash on a therapist! All kidding aside, it was genuinely a wonderful experience. I have received so many kind and emotional responses by readers from all over. Thank you all for following along while I expounded on so many issues, good, bad and ugly. I apologize if I may have bored you occasionally on life topics that may or may not have been directly connected to my cancer. You can definitely tell how much I love my family and how proud I am of them.

When you write a story about your personal experience about your fight with cancer, it can get to be very emotional. Every cancer survivor could write their own book, I’m sure. Many would just like to forget about their ordeal altogether. It’s difficult at times. The memories become so vivid and intense when you relive them on paper, per se’. There were many times that I had to stop and catch my breath as tears flowed down my face. Times that I had to put my laptop aside and take a break. Sometimes for weeks. My reality really sucked. I went to the movies this week with my wife…. “Somewhere in Queens”. In the middle of the movie, starring Ray Romano and Laurie Metcalf, Ray and his wife had an intense scene where she completely lost it and broke down in public. She was trying to handle information of what she thought was a relapse of her breast cancer. Screaming at her husband, who was trying to console her, lamenting that he could never comprehend what she was feeling and how scared she was of potentially relapsing after her original diagnoses. This scene hit home really hard. I glanced over at Lor and saw her crying. Tears were coming out of my eyes as well. We were in the last aisle of the theater where thankfully no one could see or feel our pain as we both simultaneously and vividly relived that same scenario, and worse. There were no words. We both knew and understood how we were feeling at that moment. It’s PTSD, pure and simple. It was tough.

Leukemia is a complicated blood cancer. There are so many variations and so many different treatment options that accompany those variations. Also, when you are diagnosed with Leukemia, you notice how it has become the cancer “du jour” in movies and TV shows. It seems like almost every person or child in the movies with a cancer plot has Leukemia. Anyway, to me it just validates the seriousness of the disease. A major pull at your heartstrings. In a nutshell, during the many years that I have been living with Leukemia, I have met many wonderful people. While in the first five years of treatment, there were so many patients in the same boat as me that I met and fought alongside. Many of those warriors are no longer with us. Diagnosed before the Gleevec revolution, like me, they hadn’t survived long enough to partake in the next generation of Leukemia wonder drugs. I was able to hang in long enough after my bone marrow transplant for those drugs to be developed and eventually I’ve survived because of them. I’m honored to be able to tell my story for those contemporaries and all of the Leukemia warriors past and present.

As all good things must come to an end though, my story will end here too. My present day condition is status quo. Some days I feel great and some not so great. On the good days, I tell myself, “I feel good today”, as I drive out of my development towards my store or wherever I may be headed. I cherish those days. I’ll continue to take my Chemo medication everyday like I have for the past twenty three years since “I have no other choice…or else”. Right now, I’m in a good place. I can’t predict the future, but hopefully, my adventure will continue on for a long, long time…

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