Remission Day 2012

On May 16th 2007 after 4 cycles of ABVD chemotherapy I went thru a PET/CT to see how the cancer had responded up to this point.

Two treatments equalled One cycle. I was scheduled for 6 cycles but the usual pattern is to check after 4.

Two days later on May 18th, my oncologist called me at home to inform me the cancer was gone. I was and still am in Remission.

I had to finish the chemo which I hated, but the following May I started every morning on the 18th before the sun came up. A tribute and a celebration for still being here.

This year the weather cooperated and I snapped a picture of the sun as it came over the mountains here in Sussex County at about 6:15ish.

Today is my personal holiday and a second birthday of sorts.

For everyone who is battling cancer there are days like this to look forward to.

Fight the fight. Get on the other side of the battle and share your story. Help others see that early detection can save your life.

And everyday should start with watching the sunrise.

Be well.
God Bless.

Scott

Introducing Ebz ART…

http://ebzart.wordpress.com

I will be using this blog to build my brand (if you will) and will be posting at this new address primarily. Any and all future art work including cartoons and doodles etc will be found here.

Just to clarify (in case you were curious) “Ebz” is a nick name I had in high school. It’s based on my last name which is Ebisch and had become widely used by most everyone I knew.

Thanks for reading “Nobody Gets Out Of Here Alive” as you can see my focus finally shifted to my art work and my grammar school aspirations of cartooning. I hope to post here again, but my frequency has tapered off and you can see why.

Hope to see you visit my Art Blog and comment there too.

Be well.

Scott Ebisch

I’m on facebook and twitter (@scebisch) btw…

 

 

 

 

3/14 cartoon

©2012 scebisch

Lion or sheep cartoon

Todays Cartoon

Cartooning full time

I am turning “pro” and by that I mean, I am showing up everyday to write and draw cartoons full time.

I still have and need my day job, but instead of waiting for life to provide an opportunity…I’m finally just committing to cartooning on a full time basis.

I will feature my cartoons via a blog (if not this one), facebook and twitter for now. A website will follow, eventually I guess.

See you soon, Be well.

No Evidence of Disease.

Still NED.
Early Detection saves lives!

Survivorship rules.

The view from 5 years out…

Dec 19, 2006. The distance is never enough. But today is bittersweet as well as a resounding echo of the past that will always be a part of the fabric of this family.

I remember the phone calls confirming my diagnosis and the events that would shape the following seven months.

The years in remission are just as hard and complex to explain, ignore or not be affected by.

But today feels like a birthday and a comfortable place to be…a solid 5 years since I was officially diagnosed.

I can safely proclaim I am a 5 year survivor. My whole family is. My wife and kids were obviously directly affected too.

But tomorrow is just another day and every day that follows is another day to get it right, even when life gets messy…I know that it’s entirely possible I might not have been here to complain about it.

So my pledge is to live and be kind and try and make a difference.

The view from 5 years out is dark and sweet. But a real victory nonetheless.

If you are reading this, give somebody a hug in response to this anniversary.

Just do that…for me. Ok?

Thanks.

Scott.

Career Misadventures

“Career misadventures” is how I am describing the nearly ten years since my last real job in Hospitality.

In August 2002 I was laid off and left my middle management job as a Franchise Support Manager at a large hotel franchise company with two months of salary and Severence to follow.

The list from here forward completes the aforementioned misadventures. Pretty much in this order:

Walmart. (6 mos)

UPS. (3 mos)

Shoprite. (16 mos)

Minerals Resort and Spa (6 mos)

Starbucks coffee company. (12 mos)

Embroidery creations. (6 mos)
*cash paying under the table gig while at Starbucks.

GET CANCER!!! (Lose a turn and 9 months to multiple CT scans, Dr consults, surgery, chemo etc) *achieve remission* go back to work…

Route 23 Honda. (3.5 yrs)

Walmart (again, another 6 mos)

And finally back to the hotel job I wedged in before Starbucks. Most of those jobs were taken for the benefits, my wife was running her own consultancy business until Cancer hit home and everything spirialed into the toilet.

This time I decided to get back to what I know well and spent 12 years doing. Taking care of people.

I am getting older and I just want to settle into something I know. I think a solid ten year absence from the only thing I was ever really good at is long enough…

So in keeping with our plans to stay in county for work, my wife and I are adapting to new but familiar schedules that involves nights, weekends and holidays.

I already feel comfortable behind the desk. The whole time spent training these two weeks feels like putting on an old sneaker.

The fact that the resort is three times bigger than it was the last time I worked there and that it has several sources of income other than just room revenue is an adjustment for me.

My old school (before the internet) hotel brain wants to put heads in beds in order to keep the lights on…but this place boasts three hotels each more grand than the last. A sports club, two spas, seven golf courses and at least 13 eateries/restaurant options.

I need to think a little further outside the average hotel revenue model.

And with a flexible schedule I hopefully can find and make time to work on the cartoons my son’s 2nd grade teacher offered to use in class for writing prompts and make some art for me as well.

I’m in the middle of NaNoWriMo and not where I was hoping my word count would be, but aside from that…I hope this is the upswing we’ve been waiting for.

The light at the end of this long dark tunnel we’ve been in since my cancer diagnosis in 2006 if not before that.

Lets hope…

In other words I Quit.

Today I am resigning from my envious post at the local Walmart. I am returning to what I know best, hospitality.

I spent twelve years in the hotel business. Started out as a nervous front desk clerk but moved up to Assistant General Manager in a six short years.

Moved to Ramada Corporate and was laid off about 10 months after the events of 9/11. (Airport properties were seeing catastophic financial losses due to a dramatic drop in business, the franchisor started to cut back.)

I took that kick to the curb as my ticket to brighter horizons. However, it didn’t pan out that way. The lesson here is “STICK with WHAT YOU KNOW.”

So after almost 9 years of career misadventures and a little cancer thrown in, a lot of writing (blogging and whatnot) that has gotten me nowhere I am at long last going to back into the hotel business.

In this case a resort and spa. I don’t play golf, I don’t ski or snow board. I don’t care for water parks or rides…but put me behind the front desk of the hotel there and I’m at home.

The hours suck. Holidays, nights and weekends are no longer yours. People can be impossible to please and nothing goes as planned. But I have spent far too many hours taking care of people’s needs to the best of my ability and based on the limitations of the facility and what it has to offer…its all I truly know.

So, fare thee well Walmart job. I won’t really miss you. You were my rebound job.

Its nothing personal.

Just business.