Since late May, NESN’s Jerry Remy has been out of commission and replaced by various guest analysts. On Wednesday, NESN held a conference call for reporters for Remy to announce that he will return to Red Sox games after being out at first due to allergies, then after contracting pneumonia.
According to Remy, he’ll be able work the rest of the NESN schedule for this season, providing he doesn’t have any more health scares. In 2008, Remy was diagnosed with lung cancer and missed much of the 2009 season. Over the last few seasons, he’s missed blocks of games due to various health problems.
Below are various excerpts from yesterday’s conference call.
Remy: I’ve always said that I would be honest and truthful about everything that goes on with me health-wise. (The) last couple of weeks have been pretty tough. First of all I went to the doctor today and I got the green light to go back to work on Tuesday. They didn’t want me to go to Detroit over the weekend; they didn’t want me flying to Detroit. So I’ll be able to return to the booth with no restrictions on Tuesday. And what caused this relapse, or whatever it is, everything I said at the beginning was true: I did have, I was working a Sunday game and I had an allergy attack. I thought that that would improve within a couple of days. It actually got worse on the Monday night that I worked, so I went to the doctor the following day. And I was told at that time I had pneumonia. So at that point they put me on oral medication which I thought would clear things up in a matter of days. Unfortunately, my body rejected the antibiotics that they put me on and continued to get worse. So from that point on they admitted me to Mass General, where I spent five or six days, I think five days and was on a heavy dose of IV antibiotic … within 48 hours that made a tremendous difference. When I got out of the hospital I was still pretty lethargic from the pneumonia and not ready to go to work. The club was on the road at the time and so they thought it best I not go on the road, and that’s pretty much the way it is.
Question: Hey Jerry how’s it going. Just want to know, how tough has it been on you just kind of having your setbacks along the way? Obviously your overall health seems good but has it been hard on you?
Remy: It’s been hard because you know this same thing happened like three years in a row. I’ve had these allergies and we’re trying to figure out what I’m allergic to and what’s starting this stuff. Now obviously my lungs are compromised because of having cancer twice and every time I seem to get an illness it tends to gravitate towards my lungs and that makes things obviously more complicated so you know, it’s frustrating but yet on the other hand things could be a lot worse so you know I’m just glad I’m past this recent episode and looking forward to getting back to what I enjoy doing the most and that’s Red Sox gamesQuestion: Do you think you’ll still travel this year, Jerry, or do you think you might want to cut back on some of that?
Remy: No, no I’m going back full, you know full bore. There’s no restrictions on travel. You know, until that Sunday, I felt fabulous. I really did. I had no effects of radiation, no after affects of anything, I felt great and I just all of a sudden went down in the dumps in a matter of days but no, going forward I plan to complete my schedule and complete it for a long time to come.Question: Hey Jerry, I just wanted to clarify, when you mentioned you were in the hospital at Mass General and you got the clearance about the radiation and surgery that was earlier in the year. Is that right or was it the most recent state?
Remy: No, it was a follow up CAT scan. There’s a three month follow up CAT scan after you have radiation and this was a follow up CAT scan that was very, very positive.Question: I just wanted to kinda see where you stand right now in terms of coming back from the job -how you’re feeling physically. Is it kind of a load-off here knowing that you’re going to get back in there on Tuesday?
Remy: Yeah it is, you know it’s what I love to do, it’s what I do, you know, it’s hard for me to sit back and not be able to do my job and unfortunately things like this are going to pop up and it’s hard for me to deal with them but the fact is is that the thing that keeps me going is the fact that I do enjoy my job very, very much and I’m really looking forward to Tuesday night, I really am. You know it’s part of my life, and it’s what I enjoyed the most and as I’ve always said, when I eventually retire from doing this it’ll be much harder for me than when I retired as a baseball player –so I still have the passion and the love for what I do and I just plan on doing it for as long as NESN will have me.
It will be nice to have Remy back in the booth. I know the last few weeks have not been easy for him.
