I just finished putting on a full-size school carnival earlier this month to raise money for our local high school, and I am still exhausted.

The idea of the carnival was born about 10 years ago when some friends and I were talking about raising money for our local school. Like most public schools, ours in Hawaii are horribly underfunded. I have always been good at fundraising in creative ways, and one of my favorite ways to raise funds is having a party.

What is a carnival but a kind of large party? I would say the best kind!

The idea sat with me for all those years but I failed to act on it because I knew it would be a big undertaking requiring a lot of time. I was busy raising a family, paying a mortgage, and running a farm and business.

Then I got the news about my myeloma diagnosis. Suddenly I had to rethink my priorities.

It took me and my wife almost three years to sell the farm, move, build a house, and shrink the business.

During all of these changes in our lives, I underwent initial treatment for myeloma utilizing Velcade ^[1] (bor­tezo­mib), Revlimid ^[2] (lenalidomide), and dexamethasone ^[3] (Decadron). My blood counts stabilized enough that I had my stem cells harvested for transplant, but was able to put off the transplant for now. I have been on maintenance therapy for two years using Revlimid and a steroid called methylprednisolone.

These drugs leave me fatigued, irritable, fuzzy brained, and often with an unpredictable case of the bathroom trots.

When I’m not working or playing, I often like to relax on my easy chair, read a good book, listen to a podcast, or take the dogs for a swim in the ocean. What this down time also gives me, however, is a chance to reflect on how I am feeling physically. Often, it is not so great.

Despite these feelings, I decided I finally had the time to drag back out this crazy carnival idea.

In order to do the project properly, I had to form a non-profit corporation, hire a lawyer, get insurance, and file a variety of forms with the city, state, and US governments. Next on the to-do list was recruiting for a board of directors, negotiating with the carnival operator to convince them it would be worth their while to come to us, and convincing the school administration that we could actually pull all this off without destroying their school.

The final month leading up to the carnival was beyond overwhelming. There were banners to hang, posters to post, sponsors to get, and endless meetings. Meet the police, meet the neighbors, and meet the vendors. We had to organize the power, the parking, the food, and the bathrooms. If we hadn’t had such an awesome team, we surely would have failed.

I was a professional project manager who could build an office and move hundreds of employees without having them miss an hour of work, but this carnival was my most difficult project.

Of course my wife was very worried about me pushing myself too hard. Heck, even I was starting to wonder if I was going to hit the wall at some point. During the preparations for the carnival, I also supported my wife on three large ongoing work projects, traveled to spend time with my terminally ill father, and helped my son through six intensive weeks of a school robotics competition. These tasks took all of my time, energy, and attention. I was too busy to notice how well or bad I felt. I just put one foot in front of the other and plowed through each day.

What I discovered, though, was that the busyness kept me from focusing on how I was feeling. Other than my worst moments of fatigue – and there were a couple – I just didn’t notice that I wasn’t right.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not bragging about how tough I am. I love my recliner! I’m not even sure this discovery is good news, since I am lazy enough to be concerned that I have to stay busy in order to feel better. But that is exactly the case. Being busy definitely helps me.

I have had glimpses of this phenomenon before, of course. There were times when I had to push through the discomfort of treatment because something had to be done. I have also noticed that I can sometimes forget I don’t feel good while doing fun things, like fishing, hunting, or golf. I guess the carnival was a good cross between work and pure fun. I just didn’t recognize that being busy is a remedy for the side effects of my medi­cation.

Our carnival turned out great! We had about 20,000 people attend, and our little country community was thrilled to have the chance to see each other and have some fun. We raised over $40,000 for the school and the community groups that participated.

I made it through the entire event without collapsing. I even found the energy to enjoy a cold beer at the end.

I learned a valuable lesson along the way. If I don’t spend my time sitting around thinking about how bad I feel, I sometimes feel better.

Try it and let me know if this works for you as well.

Aloha and carpe diem!