Twenty-One Days

Twenty-one days – this was the duration for quarantine when you entered certain countries from the US, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. If you were to travel to Hong Kong, you would have to be quarantined in a designated hotel, inside the room at all times, for 21 days. The quarantine was regardless of your citizenship status or your vaccine status.

Twenty-one days – this is the most common duration of each cycle of chemotherapy for cancer patients. Thankfully for advanced pre-medications and anti-emetics, most patients tolerate these systemic treatments much better than several decades ago. Many regimens also incorporate medications for targeted therapy or immune checkpoint therapy, which have less adverse effects in general. Patients usually feel the best in the last week of their cycle, before they have to start the next round of treatment again.

Twenty-one days – not a long time, but enough to accomplish many different things. It’s time for me to get my house ready for friends to come over. I usually recruit my kids to help with this. It is also a family bonding time. I am planning on infusing my kids with the spirit of giving. They have always received many gifts during the holiday seasons. It is time to learn that sharing is caring, giving is more rewarding than receiving. I would like them to learn that serving others is a great way of giving. The joy of giving is wonderful.

Time is one of the most precious things in the world. When time is gone, it is gone. We cannot buy back time. We all have a concrete amount of time in this world, we just don’t know how long that is for each person. We do have a choice how to use our time. I want to use my time to help my patients by treating their illnesses and addressing their concerns. I want to use my time to help my fellow physicians by showing them that by managing their minds, it is possible to have more time to do other things. I want spend more time with my family. It can be traveling, watching a movie, or even using our individual electronic devices in the same room. I am going to consciously do things so that I can achieve my goal of spending the maximum amount of time possible with my family. How are you going to spend your time? Let’s start with 21 days.