Geoff Fox: My Permanent Record

It was off to the lab this afternoon. One more vial. Today’s blood draw, a ferritin test. That’s a new one on me and I’ve been poked plenty!

A ferritin test is a laboratory blood test that measures the amount of ferritin in a person’s blood stream. Ferritin is the major iron storage protein in the body, so the ferritin test is ordered as an indirect way to measure the iron stores in the body.

This is all about my fatigue. I am anemic. My blood is short of iron.

But why? Can it be solved by adding iron to my bloodstream? That’s often the solution. Or I could gnaw on a crowbar.

It might also be a capacity problem. My blood might not have enough ferritin to carry the iron I need.

In any event all this is fixable. First we test.

In California, by law, the lab cannot release my test results to me until the ordering physician has had them for two weeks. I guess I’ll get a call in the next few days.

There are moments in my life I remember vividly. It was 1967, a weeknight, a school night. I was already in the kitchen when the phone rang.

“May I speak to Geoff Fox, please?”

It was a woman. A grown-up. Grown-ups didn’t call me at 16½.

“This is he,” I answered.

The woman on the other end was Ethel Burns. She was a TV producer in 1967, but she began as an English teacher. “This is he,” scored points and she told me so. I felt really proud.

Fifty years later I still remember her compliment.

Ethel Burns produced “Dial M for Music,” a WCBS Public Affairs Presentation. It was produced in cooperation with the New York City Board of Education and hosted by a Catholic priest, Father Norman J. O’Connor. It was a showcase for traditional jazz performers.

What did this have to do with the Board of Education? I have no idea, but for every taping a bunch of hand picked public school students were the permanent audience.

We were deemed trustworthy enough for a day of temptation. If you can imagine, on taping days we high school kids were left to wander the CBS Broadcast Center on West 57th Street by ourselves.

Tonight for no reason I went on YouTube to see if Dial M still exists. I found an episode with Gene Krupa I’m pretty sure I attended. And though there are no front shots of the audience, I believe the circled guy is me.

It’s my birthday, July 26th. I told Helaine I wouldn’t say how old… but old.

She and I talked a little about last year at this time. We were still in limbo. Doctors had already found the mass in my pancreas and another in my kidney (very common and benign).

We didn’t know what a biopsy would find. We were scared of what was likely.

We didn’t celebrate my birthday. It didn’t seem right.

A year has passed. It was a tough year, but it produced a miracle. My cancer is gone.

No sooner did my treatment end than Channel 8 called asking what I was doing for the summer?

I’m looking for less drama this year. I didn’t mind the happy ending.

And the people from TriCaster (NewTek is the actual company) have been very nice to deal with. Unfortunately, my expertise comes from too much dealing.

Today I spent the better part of an hour online with two guys who can help me. We talked mostly about macros.

Macros are created by recording my keystrokes. I then go back and edit, often adding short pauses to allow my machine to keep up. A macro should playback exactly as recorded.

They should. They don’t.

We shared screens so the guys in Texas could watch. They seemed to get it. They want to make it right. I hope they do, please.

Overnight I sent 1.1Gb of files to the home office. They can now replicate my setup exactly.

The only way I can control my show while standing in front of the camera is with macros. They’ve got to do what they’re supposed to do and consistently or they’re not much use.

I’ve been back on-air in Connecticut nearly three weeks. When it works right (and there have been technical hiccups we’re working to fix) it is incredibly pleasurable. It’s my drug. I am hooked.

There have been some interesting and unexpected side effects of doing News 8’s 5, 6, 10 and 11 this week. I am living on EDT!

It’s crazy. The news is over at 11:35p EDT. That’s how it feels to me, though the clock says 8:35p and the sky is still bright. And I’m exhausted!

The exhaustion is more linked to chemo, now four weeks past tense. It will take a while for my blood to rebuild its full complement of platelets and blood cells. Until then I’m sleeping/napping 10-11 hours a day.

The more interesting quirk is how easy it’s been for me to “feel” Connecticut’s weather without being there. I look at a temperature/dew point combo and understand how it feels. It’s not a skill acquired on purpose. Thirty plus year of number looking has paid off.

The amount of data available today is mind boggling. It’s much easier for me to know what’s going on in Connecticut from California than it was when I lived there!

Es la cosa real, it’s the real thing. Yes, there are single serve, glass bottle Cokes in the Fox fridge.

This being SoCal it’s a thing: Coca Cola, hecho en Mexico!

What’s the diff? The Mexican version uses cane sugar. The US version uses high fructose corn syrup.

Do I taste the diff? I do not.

However, the Mexican Cokes aren’t made to be returned. California forces a deposit, there’s none in Mexico. The glass is thick and brings back memories. This is the way a Coke was meant to be consumed.

Soda tastes better in glass. Coke is no exception. I treat myself to a bottle a day. Don’t tell any of my doctors.