The Eye Of The Storm

Hurricanes have a dot in the center where there are no clouds, no wind, and no rain.  When a hurricane travels directly over you, there is a brief, sunny pause in the mayhem and destruction.  Then the calm passes and the storm resumes.  That dot is known as the eye of the storm.

If cancer and treatment is a hurricane, then right now is the eye of the storm.  In the past: chemotherapy and radiation.  In the future: chemotherapy and surgery.  But right now I'm in the middle of an unpoisoned, uncut, unstabbed, sunny stretch of freedom.  The symptoms from the tumor are gone.  Chemo and radiation have shrunk it down and now the pipes don't get clogged. 💩  The symptoms from chemo and radiation have also faded. ☢️  I no longer feel like I've spent the last week eating vindaloo and jalapeños. 🌶

Chemotherapy is like banging your head against a brick wall... it feels really good when you stop.  Right now I feel great!

Shenanigans!

I've been trying to do as much as I can during this respite.  Mostly because after months of chemo and radiation I find myself in the middle of a surprise summer vacation and I want to make the most of it.  Also, the nagging voice in the back of my head keeps reminding me of the statistics.  Worse, it brings up memories of my patients in the ICU and OR who were supposed to have routine surgery, but didn't.  Patients who were cured of cancer but had a recurrence.  My brain is sometimes my worst enemy.  That's really saying something considering the trauma I've self-inflicted with my mouth.

Here's a recap of the journey since my last update and what I'm doing between now and surgery.

Two weekends ago was ChrisFest.  Magerk's in Fort Washington was rocking as Off Center, The P-Rents and Rio played tunes from 7pm until about 1am.  Kim, the fundraiser queen and talented lead vocalist for the P-Rents put together an amazing event.  There were a few surprise guests and I really enjoyed seeing everyone.  Like my amazing friend and neighbor said, it was a great wake and nobody had to die.  😜  Huge thanks to everyone who turned out and congratulations to the raffle winners, there was some great stuff there.  Also, thanks to the community members and businesses who donated for the raffle.  I can't ever pay it back so I'm gonna be paying it forward for decades.

Saturday was my brother's bachelor party.  We had high-speed racing, extreme carnivory and hatchet throwing.  In all, a fairly average Saturday and we managed to avoid the ER. 👍

This Saturday is the wedding.  A very chill and casual wedding with friends and family.  I'm really looking forward to it.

Sprinkled among that are a half-dozen swim meets as well as practices, cookouts, fireworks, and all the summer hoopla.

The first full week in August (which is also the last week before surgery), we will be in Ocean City, NJ!  Hit us up for boardwalk, biking, kite flying and other shenanigans.

Catching sand crabs in Ocean City, NJ in 2016

Today I am exactly four weeks from Surgery.  Four weeks from now, some guy will be elbows-deep in my abdomen cutting out the cancerous bits of liver, colon and whatnot.  Luckily, I'll be unconscious the whole time. 😴💤  I'm not looking forward to surgery, but I am looking forward to having the cancer out.  Besides, this will be a normal, stabbing/slashing kind of pain instead of the malaise of chemo or the occult burn of radiation.  I'm looking forward to the change of pace. 🙄

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