Nothing to be alarmed about, this is all good news. I thought this might be a good opportunity to catch you up my oncology check-in schedule and the results of my most recent appointment.

Here is what started as quick update and ended up being a rather long post about what I am thankful for.  Enjoy.   

It has been a busy 10 days.  We think that we have figured out the kidney issue, Ashley and I got out of town for the weekend for the first time this year, and I had a minor surgical procedure.

This is a quick update on my recovery from surgery and a couple of issues that we are still working to resolve.

We have heard back from the lab after they analyzed the mass that was removed during surgery.   

The longest day…

Well, the tumor removal surgery (officially known as RPLND) is almost upon us.  I received a call from our surgeon’s office letting us know that the date has been confirmed for August 8th.  Here we go... 

Well, my chemo port is gone. I had the procedure yesterday and all went well!  If you’re interested in the details, this post is for you.  If you don’t want to know what it’s like to be awake while someone cuts into you, don’t read this post.

WARNING: This is a long post. 
In this post I walk you through our day at the University of Iowa Hospital.  We met our surgeon and received the game plan for the next two months.  We learned a lot and feel good about the plan that is in place.

Ashley and I met with our oncolgist for our six weeks since treatment ended check-in.  This is the day that we found out if surgery will be necessary or not.

An update that includes the words Tumor Marker and NORMAL!   

It also includes the sentence “I’m really glad that I decided not to go through with the whole tongue removal thing”.  So, take that for what it’s worth. 

This post gives a recap of week one of cycle three, some new developments this week, and a few non-treatment related tidbits.   

This is a really quick update with good news about my tumor markers.

This is a long overdue recap of week one of cycle two.  That is the big week of treatment and when many of the side-effects present themselves.  This time was a bit better and we were able to cure one of the more annoying side-effects! 

As Nick recovers from his intense fourth week of chemo and begins his fifth, our kitchen often feels like an episode of “Stump the Cook” because his tastes and appetite change radically throughout the cycles, especially after the most intense week. 

There have been a couple of new developments since my post yesterday.  One of them involves my beard and the other one involves a mask.  

A quick recap of week two.  SPOILER ALERT: I am starting to feel a lot better.  

Hey!  Here is a not so brief (just being honest) recap of the last week and a half. The first week of treatment ended up being pretty rough but -SPOILER ALERT- I’m starting to feel like a real live person again.