Pre surgery update

Greetings friends and family and associates and stragglers.

Here's your update-

Jan went well overall, did radiation every day, minimal side effects. Did my last treatment on a Feb Monday morning then hopped on a plane to San Diego.

After that they give you an 8-12 week break for the radiation to keep working and then scan to see how things look and go from there.

Some slight confusion happened when I did my MRI about 8 days after the end of radiation instead of 8 weeks, so the results were not necessarily representative of the maximum effect of the radiation.

Insurance only gives you one MRI every 3 months, so I paid out of pocket and got that done this past Thursday. Had some meetings with a surgeon, talked about options.

It's been a little hypothetical and up for discussion/scheduling based on surgeon availability due to how complex the surgery might be. but as of Friday night it was confirmed:

Going to surgery tomorrow. Monday, April 29.

7am start time. 4ish hours, a few hours in recovery, could be back with the living Monday night or Tues AM. It's a robotic surgery in downtown Houston. 5 tiny incisions, the surgeon sits at the controls of the robot and manipulates the arm. They plan to make a couple of other incisions as needed, if needed.

Hospital recovery is 3-6 days, overall recovery 6-8 weeks if things are optimal. Slow downs and complications in healing are common due to the effects of radiation so if there are any snags, could take a year to fully heal.

But the goal is to remove all of the bad tissue and they think they can get it all.

After that I'm sure there's many follow up appointments, scans, etc.

Sometimes people do "clean up chemo" to knock out any remaining cells floating around. So that could be the next step.

I feel physically fine. Strong, normal, nothing out of the ordinary. The past 12 weeks pre-surgery but post radiation have been very normal and nice. Got a lot of work done on the Bronco. As it sits right now it's technically running and driving. Has steering and brakes and lights and everything. Will get it on the road as soon as possible after this little operation.

Parents are going to be there. I'm sure they'll get in touch regarding outcomes.

They're going to tell my friend Mattie when I'm out, and Mattie will reach out to some friends of mine and let them know.

Otherwise you can text and I'm hoping to be functional by Tuesday AM.

See you on the other side,

-C