It's Friday—I'm in Love

Marking the Milestones

The Cure, Glasgow, Dec. 4, 2022

One fall night in 1993, some college friends packed into a small car that someone in their group was lucky enough to have on campus and drove to a dive bar somewhere in eastern Ohio to hear their favorite local band. I don’t remember the name of the bar or the town, but I do remember that Rusted Root played a set before Stinging Rain took the stage and it was the first time I danced with a boy named Dave.

It would not be the last.

In the nearly 30 years since, that boy Dave and I have packed in all sorts of concerts—from Stinging Rain at the Grove City Sportsman’s Club to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to U2 at the United Center to Branford Marsalis at Duke Performances. We’ve moshed to underground bands in little Pittsburgh clubs and applauded guest conductors with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. We celebrated Christmas with a Michael Card acoustic set and celebrated the end of finals with a very loud Mortal show. From Public Enemy to Postmodern Jukebox, I love live music.

After I scheduled my spine surgery, I had several milestones that I wanted to hit in recovery. Of course there were the usual physiotherapy targets and functionality metrics. But I added other goals: I wanted to be able to fly home as soon as possible. I wanted to be able to celebrate my birthday. And I booked tickets for The Cure concert in Glasgow. Would I be able to manage a live arena show by December? Standing tickets seemed overly optimistic, but hopefully I could manage to sit that long. I’d have five months to be ready.

Dave and I went to The Cure show a few days ago, and it was amazing. Robert Smith’s voice is as clear and compelling as ever (even if his hair and makeup aren’t), Simon Gallup leaps on top of the speakers playing bass with the looks and energy of a man half his age, and the entire band sounds tight and crisp even during their most ethereal interludes. The concert lasted almost three hours, and I felt great—no problems at all with navigating long queues or the seating. We cheered and cried. (Yes, boys do cry … ) We even danced, albeit with less energy than we did 30 years ago. It was a magical, memorable milestone at the end of this long year.

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Treatment Update

Let’s do the good news first! Spine update: I have been in physiotherapy for my spinal cord injury and then post-surgery rehab for over a year. And for the first time, when I left my last appointment I did not need to make an immediate follow-up! I have plenty of exercises to keep up with, and I’ll check back in with my physical therapist in the new year. But this was a delightful promotion and milestone.

Now for the less-good news from my targeted therapy: My neutrophils appear to be on an extended holiday. Even on the fractional dose of targeted therapy that I’m currently on, my white count is staying stubbornly low, significantly too low to do another round of treatment right now. We’re going to wait another week and then re-check.

Prayer requests

• Perseverance with exercises for my spine

• Rebounding neutrophils

• Cooperative veins in my hands for my bone-strengthening infusion.

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