M is for … Go Ask Your Father: Chemo, Vaccines, Stupidity and Gambling

There’s this little creature, a cartoon character to be precise. He is the most curious creature on the planet. He’s so friggin’ cute, too. He often finds himself in trouble because of his curiosity. He always finds a way to fix his mistakes, though. If you still haven’t guessed who this creature is yet…

 

M is for Monkey.

We have two. They are curious Georges for sure. The trouble they cause isn’t intentional. It’s curiosity. Is there pancake mix in this box? Shake it and find out. Oops, the lid was open and now there’s pancake mix all over the floor.

Even more important than they messes they make and the frustrations they stir up, are the questions they ask. Let me tell you, they know how to ask questions. We do our best to encourage their questions. They haven’t asked the difficult ones yet. So we’ll continue encouraging them. However, eventually, there will come a question when I hear, “Go Ask Your Father.”

1. What is chemo?

Bang asked this question at bedtime, but first, a little backstory…

Bang and I go to playgroup once a week. There is a little girl, Ione, who’s been going since she was born. We’ve known her mom for many years now. Ione is two now, with three awesome siblings. She has an awe-factor that’s off the charts. That’s how adorable she is. Anyway, they just found out Ione has Leukaemia. Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, to be precise. She starts Chemo today. Please visit this darling little girl’s Go Fund Me page. It’s the only link I’m asking you click today.

So Bang  asked, “What’s chemo?” at bedtime while he and DW were saying their night time prayers because they made sure to include Ione tonight.

Chemotherapy, or chemical therapy, introduces chemicals, medicines,  into the body to destroy cancer cells. Since there are so many different kinds of cancer there also many kinds of chemotherapy. Ione will possibly have two and half years of this.

2. What are vaccines?

We didn’t get our flu shot this winter like we normally do. We weren’t vaccinated. The boys ended up getting sick for week. I’ll spare you the details, though. Would a vaccine, a.k.a. flu shot, have prevented it? Possibly. It wouldn’t have hurt. Well, except for the whole needle thing. Just like a flu shot is a vaccine to prevent the flu, there are vaccines for mumps, measles, polio, and number other diseases that can be deadly. I know some out there are anti-vaxxers, and I just don’t understand them. Simply because they don’t know what’s in it, they don’t know the real effects of the medicine, because they still believe they cause autism.

Rant done. Vaccines prevent people from getting sick. Sorry, there’s just no humor here.

3. Why was that stupid?

Okay. This is better. Stupid is funny. Down right hilarious, sometimes. This question could be asked numerous times a day about any of a variety of things by any of the four of us. This instance, however, occurred during a baseball game. My beloved O’s were undefeated at the time and the game was tied at 6. The Red Sox had a runner on first with 1 out when our pitcher threw a wild pitch. More wild than frat party. “That was stupid,” I said. Why? Because now the Sox have a runner on second, which is scoring position.

They didn’t score, though. That batter struck out. Couldn’t handle the heat. Swung like he was swattin’ flies. Wiffed. The next guy grounded out and the inning was over. It was still a stupid pitch.

4. What is gambling?

Simply put, gambling is when you pay money or items on chance happenings. The example I used with Crash when something as follows…

You are an Orioles fan. Your little brother is a Blue Jays fan (I know. I’m not proud of it, but we are in Blue Jay country. I won’t call child protective services until he says he’s a Yankee’s fan). If you were to say that the O’s would be the Jays and Bang were to say, like hell, then you could bet $10 or $100 or your share of the Lego pile. Whoever’s team won would get the money or the Legos. Gambling is taking a chance. To do it smartly you need to know your chances of winning. Know when to hold ’em and know when to fold ’em.

Me personally? I’m betting Ione kicks cancer’s ass.