I'm getting out the olde literary shoehorn here to try and wedge these two together. Watch this.
It's well documented within the bits and bytes of this blog that I hail from Minnesota. And despite nearly 50 years of being away from the Land of 10,000 Lakes, I remain true to my Minnesota teams. Furthermore, having spent many a frigid day lacing up the "blades" in the warming house at Fern Hill School for an all-day marathon of pickup games, of all the sports - hockey is my favorite. IMHO: I'm going to go out on a limb of lumber and say that hockey is the most collaborative team sport of all of them.
You'll often hear about a successful hockey team that is winning because they are playing within the system: a team's/coach's overall strategy on how players are positioned and expected to move on the ice to achieve specific goals, like controlling the puck or defending the net. Everyone knows their role and they willingly relinquish their personal accomplishments, statistics or desires for the overall greater good of the team - and its success. From superstars to fourth-line journeymen, everyone is equal and equally important - in their given role. It's totally egalitarian and it doesn't work unless everyone is on board; every shift / every game.
Pivot: So too, the success of my Oncology diagnosis and treatment team emanates from an equitable effort from everyone involved in the overall 'system.' Each member has a role - from the lead Oncologist to the lab tech who is reading my monthly blood work. They all contribute a function in the monitoring of my progress and the maintaining of my health. And because Multiple Myeloma (MM) is an unusual strain of cancer whose persistent nature requires a lifetime of vigilant care, the responsibility of each "player" on Team Nat is critical to the success of keeping my MM under control.
The parallels between hockey and cancer are somewhat uncanny and somewhat ridiculous (the ridiculous is really more my doing). You fight cancer and sometimes you fight in hockey. The goalie wears a mask and I often wear a mask. There are about 20 people on my Onc team and 20 players dress for an NHL game. Some of the best pro hockey players these days are honing their craft at many of America's finest colleges/universities - samesies for the Oncologists and all of the other healthcare providers who support my ongoing maintenance.
My Onc team will never raise Lord Stanley's Cup (and at this rate, my NHL team may never do that either; despite my Onc team's efforts to keep me alive long enough to see that at least once in my lifetime), but they are "lighting the lamp" for me every day and keeping my cancer in check . . . 7+ years and counting.
