“I’m healthy!” That’s what I said when I ran into Val, one of my oncology nurses, today. After last year, it’s nice to run into people from the hospital and be able to tell and show them that you made it through. Of course, while completely true, there is a little more to it than that.
We’ve been preoccupied the past few weeks, so this update comes after a delay, but we recently made the trek back to Mayo to make sure I’m still cancer-free, and in that regard, everything looks great.« Read the rest
At this time one year ago, I was sitting with my wife in the oncologist’s office, having just found out my testicular cancer had spread upwards before they got to it. We had been rushed down there so we could get the process rolling to begin chemo.
The events at that point were a little blurry. You’re trying to process the news you’ve just been given, the vast uncertainties of what is to come, what’s going to happen with work (it was crunch time at that moment), and a million other thoughts spinning around your brain, when the doctor comes in to talk about things, of which you’ll promptly forget most of.« Read the rest
Today is Black Friday Stay Home 2018, and many of you are hoping to get a few deals. Here’s a handful of things you may want to look at, and a small collection of things I noticed at Amazon (side note: do not think this is a reflection of a personal wish list). Some of these links will give me a small kickback, so if you’re looking at any of these purchases, please use these links. Bonus: You don’t have to leave the house.« Read the rest
This has been a challenging year. I never imagined I’d have to deal with cancer, yet here I am getting ready to return to work next week. It’s a little cliche to do a generic thankful post on Thanksgiving like everyone else, but I’m doing it anyway. Here are some of my thanks from trials this year.« Read the rest
Something I’ve had to learn over the years is the importance of cultivating my relationship with good integrators, as well as how to better identify the poor ones. There have also been some lessons in that, just like me, they can get better with time. It’s so important to find ones you can trust, for when you get in a bind, they’ll be your best resource. However, we must be discerning. The one down the street might be feeding you the corporate line, and the sheer size of a more nationally known one might fool us into believing they know more than they do.« Read the rest
The past few years have brought a lot of change to my life, some great, some heartbreaking, a lot somewhere in between. There’s been marriage, new job, cancer, and my wife’s joy at getting rid of the van. There has been new gadgets, learning, traveling, and helping people take steps forward. Going through chemo this summer has brought about new challenges, chief of which is tinnitus, and while there is a strong likelihood it will clear up for me, who knows how long that might take.« Read the rest
It’s been a long year, and I’m tired, of everything. When the cancer bomb dropped back in April it was VERY optimistic of me to think I could be back at work in 3 months. After surgery, my wife noted that she hadn’t realized just how much chemo took everything out of me until I had started acting more like myself these past few weeks, a good 10 weeks after my last chemo treatment. It does seem as though we are actually getting to the light at the end of the tunnel, with one of our doctors at Mayo telling us those wonderful words: “You are in remission.”« Read the rest
Today is surgery day. We drove out to Rochester on Tuesday, which was a great decision as Tiah’s family had to fight the weather driving here on Wednesday. We also wanted to be able to relax a bit before a couple pre-surgery appointments. They told us to call in between 8:15 and midnight to find when to be at the hospital.
5:45 am
It’s a bit of a cruel joke. Sure I’ll be put under and essentially be sleeping half the day, but I still didn’t want to be awake right now (4am).« Read the rest
September has gone by too quickly. Inspired Woman Magazine hosted their first conference in Medora the beginning of the month, and TIah was all prepped to head out for the Wednesday – Saturday trip. Mayo had other plans though, they called us on that Tuesday evening to let us know we had appointments scheduled first thing Thursday morning. The short notice was unfortunate, but thankfully Tiah already had things worked out at church with her plan to be gone those days.« Read the rest
August kicked off with the joy of being back home for recovery, though I wasn’t quite as independent as I’d have liked to be. There were some tasks that while I could have done them myself, but they left me so tired and would take so long that I had Tiah help me with them. We had frequent visits to the hospital for blood work and consults, carefully monitoring my blood work to ensure the blood thinners were in a specific range.« Read the rest
The past few years have brought a lot of change to my life, some great, some heartbreaking, a lot somewhere in between. There’s been marriage, new job, 
It’s been a long year, and I’m tired, of everything. When the cancer bomb dropped back in 
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