The Best Year Yet

The anesthesiologist commanded me to drink a non-red Gatorade by 4am. Pre-surgery anti nausea recovery something something. So naturally I only slept from midnight to 2am.

Now sleep is again hard to come by after my lemon-lime gluttony. Maybe because my face feels naked after shaving off Coronabeard in preparation for today's biopsical event. So I'm listening to the minutes tick by until it is time to leave.

Liz will drop me off at the hospital at 5:30am to prep for the 7:30am surgical biopsy. She can't stay with me...our state now has its highest numbers of COVID hospitalizations yet, and no visitors are allowed into the surgery waiting area as a precaution to prevent further spread.

Good health policy. Bad social reality.

This week we found out through CT and PET scans that the original assumptions are correct: lymphoma, likely stage 2A, it hasn't extended to other parts of the body below the diaphragm, and it hasn't progressed into any other body systems. No surprises, fortunately. In order to clarify the specific cancer type he treatment plan, the surgeon (who doesn't have nearly as cool of a name as Liz's biopsy surgeon did) will remove one lymph node, most likely from my neck. It's the easiest one to get to, and actually the one that I first noticed was an issue. I very much like the idea of getting rid of that trouble maker. The surgery will be quick, and once I come out of recovery after a few hours, they'll call Liz to pick me up at the front door.

We should know the pathology results early next week, then determine what the plans are for starting chemo, which will likely begin quickly. We'll keep you posted.

Thanks to everyone for your heartfelt comments, texts, calls, and emails. It means a lot to us to know that you're cheering us on.

On Election Day, our 8-year-old Eli blurted out: "I really think that 2020 is going to be the best year yet." He followed it up with, "And I can't wait until 2021!"

That's the kind of optimism I needed.

This has not been a cool year, for so many people and for so many reasons. It is super uncool what's happening right now to me, to us.

But I guess that it's time to make 2020 the best year yet!