A Slow Account of Steady Progress

It was a lovely day in NYC. Spring has sprung. Spent most of the day on walks with Court/Jacqui or on roof / relaxing.

Not a lot of updates to be honest, still working on sleep, etc.

Felt the best I’ve felt so far this round but definitely not 100% yet.

Court’s mom came up to visit NYC so spent the majority of the afternoon hanging out with her and Court. Weather got up into the 70s so we went on a couple different walks that were quite lovely.

I definitely hit a wall each day in the late afternoon currently. Baseball is back and was pumped to watch some games but since it’s the west coast swing, every game starts at like 10 so I’ve watched only a few innings so far.

Not sleeping too hot and it shows. I went to bed before 9pm but then woke up at 3 and couldn’t go back to sleep. Definitely feel like recovery from this round has been slower, probably in no small part due to inconsistent sleep. Doc had mentioned early on that insomnia is common so seems like a later development for me.

At our check-in last week, they did approve me taking a few of my meds for longer in round 4 so hopefully that will help.

Weather still a bit cool but turning for the week which is exciting. Watched a few Matt Rife specials on the roof which was enjoyable, had only really seen short clips of his in the past.

Ok, a step function increase today in how I feel.

Went on a longer walk with Court and took care of a couple lingering chores around the house.

Didn’t do too much notable otherwise but definitely the best day I’ve had all week.

Normally, I start to feel a lot better on Friday of the second week but that wasn’t the case this week. Unclear whether it was because of the cumulative effects of the chemo rounds or because I got very little sleep and woke up at 2:45am…

Regardless, I was just tired the entire day and while we got out on a couple walks, it was generally a more discouraging day to cap off a pretty meh week all around!

Well, another tough day but a good story. Trigger Warning for those who don’t like gross stuff.

Today, we went to get regularly scheduled labs at the doc. My Dr was on spring break so all his patients went to a different guy who was running late so we ended up waiting over 2 hours to see him, which was frustrating because my magnesium ended up being low and they needed to give me an impromptu infusion to boost it, which takes 30 minutes. Would have been nice to know 2 hours ago so we could have gotten that done doc!

About 5 minutes into my infusion, we heard someone say, “I need help” from the bathroom right across from my little room. One nurse went by and said, “Oh my” and the entire nursing unit sprang into action because there was a man who had fallen and hit his head in the bathroom.

Apparently, he was having severe diarrhea and went to start cleaning it and then passed out, gashed his head and had MORE diarrhea as a result so there was blood and poop everywhere. The entire unit started to smell and it was nauseating. Court had to GTFO there cause this was her nightmare haha.

He ended up getting seated and treated while they waited for the ambulance to take him across the street to ER right behind me and we were separated by only a curtain and a couple feet until I got moved to a different room a few minutes later. (I think the guy was fine, he was lucid, remembered everything and talking when he got wheeled out.)

The nurse and I joked because she had been talking about how unusually quiet it had been for them today and then 10 minutes later, this happens so that was clearly an immediate jinx.

Anyways, I still feel like crap. Round 3 ain’t no joke.

Marginal improvement. Got out for a couple walks during the day as the weather got a bit more amiable.

Bleeding subsided after the morning and the docs continue to think we’ll just reassess at the end (which I don’t mind, it’s only a mild discomfort and I’d rather not go into the hospital if I don’t have to.)

My current chaotic evil vice is my instagram feed has changed to food so I get served 100s of videos of burgers and pizza that I can’t eat. In particular, I’m craving a Jamaican beef patty and have talked about it to Court on 57 separate occasions. Alas, May is going to be a glorious month.

Maybe the worst day so far? Not sure.

Basically in and out of sleep the entire day and stomach was just a little vulnerable which made it hard to eat properly.

Had a little blood in the urine again as well. I’d say we’re less worried about it than last time and we already have a bladder endoscopy scheduled once chemo is over.

Court claims I have lodged my first “Official Complaint” to her about being sick since chemo started. I’m not sure if I 100% believe that but it was a brutal day so it’s definitely the most recent one, that’s for sure.

Hydration infusion is supposed to be low-key but the nurse missed the vein with the first IV and then as soon as the second one went in, I got nauseous and threw up. In and of itself, that wasn’t that bad but it did lead to some excruciatingly painful cramps right after which were much worse.

Doubly annoying because my stomach is normally starting to recover a bit around this time where I can eat a bit less blandly but instead, it’s the opposite and being even more careful since it’s on edge. Combined with the exhaustion and continued brain fog, no bueno.

Court and I were laughing because 3-4 people texted me unsolicited within 5 minutes of the vomiting episode which was pretty funny. The people have a sixth sense!

Welp, felt like crap all day but that was expected!

Had soup dumplings. again. still fire.

Caught up with a couple peeps along the way. Overall, just happy we’re one day closer.

It was a lovely day. Court and her friend Nikki were saviors bring bagels back to the house which I devoured, even if I only feel comfortable eating plain bagels right now.

One question that comes up often is what I eat for breakfast and I’m kind of a fiend as I have five eggs each morning and this was not an exception. It’s my favorite meal.

I got a long walk in before settling on the roof deck for the majority of the afternoon. It was the perfect day as it wasn’t too hot but sun was still out which made for quite a pleasant lazy lounge.

Court also made me homemade chicken caesar wraps which were so f’in good but I got a ton of indigestion afterwards which was a huge bummer. Lettuce burps are just kinda miserable. We’ll come back to it later.

Some friends sent some goodies as well so munched on some cookies before heading to bed bright and early. I will say while I’m generally as or more physically exhausted, I’m feeling more optimistic than I did at this stage in round 2 mentally. We keep grinding!

Final day of infusions for round 3 was pretty uneventful! I think, mentally, I feel a bit better than I did during round 2 at this stage which is nice. Physically, I’m definitely exhausted though and only really have a few “ok” hours each day. While hiccups and indigestion are still pretty consistent, it didn’t quite feel as burdensome as the round 2 infusions so hoping that carries into the next few days.

Father joined me for the infusion today so we chat about various odds and ends which was lovely.

Not much else to report, we keep going!

I may have spoken too soon on the hiccups and indigestion being better than last cycle. They came back in full force last night.

Also, I’ve noticed some of my fine motor skills are a bit off. Example: my hands will shake a bit when trying to do basic tasks like…holding a breakfast burrito or clicking a button on my computer using a mouse. (To be fair, it probably doesn’t help that I normally keep my mouse tracking speed/sensitivity at the highest setting lol)

One of those minor annoyances that, in isolation, is super manageable but, in aggregate, quite frustrating.

Angelica joined us for this infusion, which we thought Court was not going to be able to make originally, where we all consoled each other on our current existential crises. The nurses probably thought we were crazy.

The infusion was the quickest yet but it was too good to be true because as we were leaving, the nurse came back in and said she needed to do another blood draw before they determined if it was ok to leave which was sad because they’d already taken out the IV. So I got 2 pokes for the price of 1 but luckily, they let me off the hook once they got the blood test results so I was salvaged from a third IV.

Finally, March Madness is upon us, my yearly donation to the masses.

Today was the first day they struggled a bit to find a good vein for the infusion so that was interesting. Apparently, this is quite common during cycles 3 and 4 but meant it took a bit longer than usual to get “set up”.

The indigestion and hiccups have come back. I actually think it’s a bit better than cycle 2 because we’ve tweaked my diet during infusion days slightly and it seems to manifest itself mostly when I end up getting into longer conversations, which is pretty much a requirement of being married to Court ;)

Also…Liverpool…finally bringing some joy into the grind ha.

Happy Hump Day!

Solid second day of infusions. As I’ve mentioned in the past, the infusions themselves are pretty anticlimactic so we were just chillin’. Definitely noticing my energy levels fall off really fast in the evenings though around 7:30/8 ish and I’m often napping in the car on the way to/from the appointments.

Most notable moment of the day was soup dumplings for dinner which were crackin’

Started the third cycle today. It was an early morning as festivities began around 7:20 at MSK. Had some early blood work and Dr check in before heading to the infusion. The nurse taking care of me mentioned that my blood work looked “amazing” so that was a fun update.

Honestly, the infusion went by pretty quick and got some QT catchup time with Pierre.

At the suggestion of my old coworker Jes, I acquired this cool little book holder that I can put in my lap without holding it in my hand which helps a lot with reading at the hospital so made some more progress on the book I’m reading which is quite good.

I will say my energy deteriorated fast towards the end of the day and felt kinda meh starting around 7pm with some light burping / hiccups starting to reappear. Hopefully, it will stay p chill as Court and I adjusted my eating a bit to remove butter a bit more in a couple of the meals she’d been making.

Epic sports day.

Started with some early F1 when I woke up. This season has been interesting with some moments of great racing but the cars are kind of gimmicky this year which takes away from my enjoyment a lot, especially qualifying.

Then had some LVP soccer which was depressing as has been the case (I think they’ve won like 1 game since I started treatment).

Rounded it out with The Players final few holes side-by-side with NASCAR.

Also caught up with a few peeps throughout the day and one commented that I watch a lot of sports. This is correct and part of the reason I haven’t made it as far through my content backlog as initially thought.

Finished cycle 2 with a lobster ravioli dinner from Court while watching the US v DR in WBC and some casual Air.inc feedback on a new product we’re launching soooooon.

Round 3 tomorrow, let’s go!

Genereally more restful day as Friday left me pretty tired.

Hung out with Jake and Court for the majority of the afternoon and played a throwback game called Phase 10.

Been only sleeping mid to OK so I get tired super early and fell asleep right around 8:30pm…which was nice except it means I wake up at like 4am as a result. Suboptimal.

Long day (in a good way).

Went on a couple walks early and read for most of the morning. Court had some calls during the afternoon so to get out of the house and give her some space, I hit up the golf simulator. Starting to dial in the driver even getting a somewhat consistent draw shot shape which was pretty cool. We’ll see how it translates out in the open though ha.

I was able to catch up with a couple folks through the day as Casi called concerned I hadn’t updated the tracker in awhile cause I’ve been slacking on the daily updates and then Phounsouk gave me a full Cabo debrief. (Glad he made it back alive.)

Finally, had my final cheat meal with some pizza from Table 87 as the parentals came over for one final visit before they leave tomorrow.

I was absolutely exhausted by the end and basically fell asleep on the couch while they were conversing so needless to say I got my money’s worth.

Now one final weekend until we head for round 3!

Still struggling to get proper sleep so starting to get fatigued before the end of the day. Some insomnia is expected so not too concerned but definitely annoying.

Weather went from 60 in the morning to 33 and snowing in the afternoon so that was whack. Had another cheat meal in the morning as Court and I walked down to get Breakfast by Salt’s Cure which was so tasty but their pancakes were probably a little too sweet which contributed to some crash out at the end of the day. Worth it but probably won’t get them as a cheat meal in the future.

Was generally a pretty lackadaisical day outside of that!

The final pleasant day for awhile. Walked over 10k steps for the first time in a few weeks and spent about 4 hours on the roof doing some collection of reading, playing Stardew Valley, and taking care of some life logistics.

Parentals came over again for another dinner courtesy of my mother which was lovely. That’s all I got!

I had my first proper cheat meal with a Bacon, Egg and Cheese on an Egg Bagel. Heaven.

It was another gorgeous day so went on another proper walk down through Carroll Gardens and back. The people are out and about feeling themselves. Also, ensuring I’m careful with the new sun exposure on the shiny bald head so I’ve been wearing hats religiously.

Parents are in town visiting this week so they’re getting the best version of me, as always :). Court made some delicious homemade steak teriyaki to cap the day.

The third week obviously necessary for the body to rebuild and recuperate but mentally it’s also just night and day, although the weather has been helping quite a bit.

It is basically summer. And it’s awesome. Went on a walk down to the piers in BBP and relaxed for a bit which was great.

Hung out with one of Court’s friends (Maddy) who came to visit and spent the majority of the day either walking or outside on our roof deck.

I’ve also circled around a bunch of different shows to start (was originally gonna start Mad Men but got cold feet) and finally landed on Succession so, while I will prioritize other activities this week, I’ll probably spend a bunch of the infusion week rolling through that.

Woke up and immediately watched the F1 race. This season is going to be weird and the new cars are kind of gimmicky but the first 15 laps of the race were still fun to watch.

Then got a facetime from Phounsouk at sunrise from Cabo as the boys were waking up so that was a fun call. If any of them have to work tomorrow, I truly have no idea how they are supposed to do that lol.

Liv and Eugene came through and we enjoyed some time on the roof deck for the first time in 2026 which was electric. Apparently, it was the longest timeframe between 60 degree days in NYC since 1982 so the sun hit a bit more than normal. Gotta be more diligent on the sun check though now that the head is bald, a lot more caps in my future.

Court and I were pretty tired so just relaxed and watched the NASCAR race which was pretty solid and then another standup special by Robby Hoffman which was diabolical haha

I also spent some time dogfooding a big new Air.inc product were building and they’ve made crazy progress which was fun to play with.

I’ve been a bit behind on updates over the past couple of days. This was mostly because I was spending the majority of the time finishing Phounsouk’s surprise bachelor party video, which I had not made enough progress on before starting to feel like crap during the infusion week so I needed to backload more of the work than I would have preferred. As such, the majority of my “brain” energy went towards trying to get that completed which the boys finished last night.

Anyways, while the majority of my friends were Cabo West, the triple (iykyk) and I decided to perform a little Cabo East contingent and hit up a new golf simulator spot that opened up a few months back. Nothing like that sweet feeling of piping a driver 50 yards OB…irons were dialed tho.

Beatty also dropped off some Baked Ziti that Court and I have already had 3 helpings of.

At the end of the day, Court and I were pretty zonked so just relaxed and casually watched some racing / finished S2 of Daredevil.

We also watched the Taylor Tomlinson standup special on Netflix a couple days back, I thought the first 20ish were a bit rough but it got better as it went.

Friday was a step function increase in how I felt cycle 1 and this cycle was no different. Wow, I feel significantly better than I did at the beginning of the week which is huge because the mentals definitely suffer a bit in those early week horizontal days.

I was able to go on my first proper walk in a hot minute as Katie came through in the early afternoon.

At the end of the day, I zoomed into the bachelor party to impersonate Alex Trebek as a jeopardy host for phounsouk themed trivia.

New Oura ring came in already so will hopefully get some more accurate data moving forward again. Right after the harder phase of week 2 happens, I tend to then follow that with some insomnia and struggle to sleep properly for a few days so we’ll see what happens this week. Starting to feel more like a human today though.

Had a good check in with the doc, blood work was pretty solid and only real change in my regimen is adding a magnesium supplement moving forward. He admitted that he was secretly planning on putting me on an IV that day if my magnesium had dropped any further…sneaky doctors.

The boys are headed down to Phounsouk’s bachelor party today. Obviously, I will not be partaking but excited to follow along for the various surprises / content along the way (as you know, Phoun records everything lol).

My Oura ring broke 4 months in. Luckily, getting a replacement was basically the easiest thing of all time (<2 mins) and it gets in today.

Probably the first day I felt materially better which is nice and right on cue since we got past day 9.

Chat with a couple of the lads before they ship off to Phounsouk’s bachelor party. I joked with someone that I’m probably gaining back any years I’m losing from chemo by not attending the BP. To be clear, not a trade I wanted to make but a consolation none the less.

Still burping more than I’d like but the mouth/metallic sheen is starting to go away so progress!

Took it easy, still feeling pretty meh but maybe little tiny bit better although definitely marginal.

Court made a mock souvla salad that was fire but the chives gave me some indigestion so that was less fun. The Doc took me off Pepcid midway through this cycle but might ask to keep that going during future infusion weeks cause it’s lasted a lot longer this cycle than last cycle.

Got a couple surprise phone calls from people I hadn’t talked to in awhile which was fun.

Another tough day. The brain fog is just really, really frustrating and makes it hard to do anything but lie down.

Had a hydration appointment in the morning at the new Brooklyn Infusion Center which was quite nice actually and then got in a proper walk back home. The nurse made an interesting comment that he thinks that this treatment is one of the hardest that he sees as it’s just really rough on the body, which corroborates what the doc said last week about my chemo drugs being “medieval” haha.

Anyways, was horizontal for the majority of the rest of the day though. Time just passes really slowly on these off days. Alas, we are close to through the hump of this cycle and it should hopefully get easier from here on out!

No sugar coating it, I did not feel great today lol (which was expected but man, it still hits).

I took everything slow and was able to get out for a one block walk mid-day but just focused on making the time pass because I could barely concentrate or consume anything of substance. Happy it’s over and have a hydration appointment tomorrow.

Court also made a comment that I’m very good at making myself sound good on the phone when talking to people but I also believe in manifesting positive energy so I think it’s a good thing? Anyways, take that for what you will.

Had a lovely day of visitors on Saturday.

Kelechi and Bridget brought bagels, which in hindsight were extremely lacking in our previous diet regime and Court and I will correcting imminently. Then Sarah and Matt stopped by from Beantown with some soup dumplings for the soul.

All around great company that made the day fly by! Outside of that, just relaxed and enjoyed being done with the second round of infusions, even if the hard part is just starting.

Final infusion day of round 2!

Honestly, was pretty tired all day and definitely felt the cumulative effects of the week ha. Last couple days it’s been pretty hard to concentrate on anything meaningful so just getting by where I can.

Court made a bomb teriyaki dish for dinner so that was probably the highlight of the day. Shoutout to my aunt who suggested we only use non-metal utensils for eating to remove the metallic taste which seems to be helping so far (although my taste / mouth is still a bit “off”).

That’s all I got for ya today. Have a great weekend fam!

Fatigue / brain fog definitely starting to catch up to me. Was pretty tired all day.

The little bro came through with Maddie to hang at my infusion for awhile so that was much appreciated. They were both quite tan from recent travels to Puerto Rico so Court and I were quite jealous.

Once I got home, mostly just laid back and relaxed for awhile. Honestly, can barely remember what I did for the majority of the time.

Also started Marty Supreme but fell asleep halfway through so will finish tomorrow. Bedtime has been rapidly pushing earlier but make no mistake, I’m still up and at it at like 6am every day for whatever reason ha

(Oura battery is totally shot so only lasts like a day at a time right now, so no data today)

Braved the subway for one more day. In good spirits most of the day and had a nice visit from an old co-worker who has been going through a similar process and it was great to compare notes and (definitely not conspiracy) theories on our treatments!

Towards the end of the day, definitely fell off the wagon a bit and started to feel more fatigue and brain fog. This was in part because I’m participating in a small group session for product leaders that was 2 hours so took more energy than normal.

Well, it didn’t take long to get the hiccups back lol. A bit more brain fog as well but I still think it’s hilarious that hiccups are the main symptom I get during infusion weeks.

We took the subway again to avoid some of the snow clearing and it’s generally totally fine. It’s an easy way for me to get some walking time in as well which I’m trying to prioritize a bit more this cycle.

Relaxed most of the afternoon and then had a nice visit from Shilpa post-work.

Also, I forgot to mention this in previous posts but I finally bit the bullet and shaved my head on Sunday. It was becoming untenable and the last straw was when I put on a new shirt and the entire collar was just laced with pieces of hair.

Alas, it’s much easier to manage now.

That’s all for now — toodles!

Round 2 started off with a bang! Just got dumped with a ton of snow and some wind overnight so MSK pushed back our appointment 4 hours for a delayed start.

This actually worked out quite nicely and, in lieu of the travel ban / unpredictably in snow clearing, we decided to take the subway. It was super chill with only a few people on it and no delays on the way there.

I will say, anecdotally, the roads and sidewalks were handled better than the last storm but not sure what others think.

Court started family leave today so that she has more time to help support unexpected happenings like some of the 2nd week visits in Round 1.

Today’s session was quite long as things were just moving a bit more slowly since there were less people but no complications, etc.

I did kind of immediately start to get some of that brain fog feeling already but it’s fairly mild so far.

Capped off the day playing some Settlers of Catan (a new expansion pack called “New Energies”) with Katie and Max that was a lot of fun and some nice early week socialization.

Back at it tomorrow! See ya fam!

Woke up and watched US vs Canada hockey in Olympics along with Liverpool. Having them both on side-by-side was…rather stressful haha. Hockey was starting in overtime and Liverpool was in the 88th minute and both games were tied. I told Court my day could either go really great or downhill fast in the next 5 minutes.

Luckily enough, LVP scored in the 97th minute of stoppage time and we all know what happened with the US. Capped it off watching some NASCAR at Atlanta that was probably one of the better races I’ve seen in the last couple years. Epic sports day all around.

Enjoyed the final day before we head off tomorrow. MSK pushed back the infusion appointment due to a delayed opening for the center. Will be an interesting journey but planning to take the subway to avoid the roads / travel ban currently in effect.

On the consumption side, finally finished Red Notice so hmu if you want to discuss. Industry E7 also dropped and that show is just a total whirlwind, fun television. That’s all folks!

Woke up and realized the snow storm had been upgraded from 3-5” to 18-24” in NYC so Court rushed to get gas and groceries!

Family call, long walk, laundry, age of empires 2 with Trav, olympics.

Excited for USA vs Canada tomorrow, big sports day!

My body almost back - minus the hair. Just in time for round 2!

Took a longer walk around Cobble Hill and trying to enjoy the reasonable weather for a bit. Got another nice care package from my brother’s coworker so we’re reaching deep into the network apparently lol.

Court’s starting family leave on Monday so she’ll also have more time to hang and may influence some of the content consumption but TBD. Almost done with Red Notice now and working on a couple mini projects around the house.

Also, I accidentally put yesterday’s update for today so the reactions/comments are a little off and not sure if worth updating. We’ll see.

Shoutout USA Women’s Hockey, that game-winning goal was filthy.

Good day all around. Treat myself to a Bacon, Egg and Cheese. Speechless, forever GOATed in NYC. Also read another 1/3 of Red Notice and finished Mr. Robot so we’re kinda cooking fam.

Hair started falling out today! It’s kind of funny, I just scratched an itch when I woke up and like a bunch of hairs came off randomly. Crazy.

Anyways, my hair is pretty short so not a huge deal. Definitely just happy to have a couple days feeling pretty good going into next week.

Did a little golf simulator session to stay active a bit. Irons were fire, driver was not.

Solid day, not a lot of interesting news to share.

Still having some sleep issues (expected, although I slept like a rock the first week) but other than that, I definitely the best I’ve felt since starting. It’s nice to know feel some semblence of normalcy even if only for a handful of days.

Got another long walk in and some social time with a friend from out of town.

Industry E6 was unhinged, crazy how this show has evolved from S1 and feel like it’s must-watch TV now. DM to discuss (there’s a LOT).

Hilariously, woke up with debilitating back spasms at like 3:30am and couldn’t get back to sleep. Current hypothesis is we missed a day of electrolytes. It’s clear that my body is still under a lot of stress so little changes in my diet / hydration seem to come with new sides effects, kind of fascinating in way (and goes to show how resilient the body is in the normal day to day).

Watched and napped through the Daytona 500. It ended up having an insane finish, wrecks everywhere with the final pass happening in the last corner. Worth checking out the highlights.

All that being said, brain is mostly back to normal now which is nice so will be taking advantage of a lot of walking and some socializing through this week before infusions week 2 next week.

Happy Valentine’s Day folks!

Court and I had a lovely day with some friends (Jake and Tanya) stopping by for a bit for a new headshot photo shoot on the roof deck. Was great to “host” people a bit which felt like normal for a couple hours.

Was feeling a bit more emboldened eating wise as I’ve started to feel a bit better over the past couple days but had a couple bites of a little spicy food and realized we aren’t all there yet 😅.

Watched Liverpool dominate a game (finally) and then settled in for a nice evening with Court and the Olympics. Caught a glimpse of a couple of the dunks from the slam dunk contest and man, that was underwhelming.

Back at it tomorrow with the Daytona 500, let’s go!

Woke up feeling way better yesterday. Kind of the first time in a week that I had some semblance of brain normalcy with less fog which was a welcome change.

It was also a beautiful, balmy 34 degrees so I prioritized getting outside with a walk down Court St and my first long walk down to the water (shoutout Topper!). Felt so good to get outside properly.

Fun little anecdote for Court: The oncologist called to check in on the blood situation, which has since cleared up for the time being. I told him I’d send a message through the portal if anything else comes up and he was like, “Why don’t you call if anything happens…you’re a pretty low-key guy so want to make sure we get you sorted quickly” which was music to Court’s ears since she inherently mistrusts my medical chops lol.

However, we have also acknwowledged I’ve been an attentive patient to date so we good.

There’s been a fun trickle of different care packages and things. Obviously, extremely grateful to be surrounded by so many freaking awesome people and appreciate all the support, well wishes and messages alike. We truly feel like we have “the best” friend group and amazing family. Love y’all!

I woke up to 500+ text messages from the 1119 group overnight. Court always questions how we keep so many group chat threads but this was quality morning reading. Wouldn’t have it any other way.

Spent some good time with the oncologist yesterday, got another ultrasound and some more bloodwork / labs. They continue not to find signs of an infection which is good but also means that they don’t actually know why there would be blood in the urine. I’ll have another followup back with the urologist next week but, for now, as long as I don’t have a fever or other symptoms, I’ll be chilling.

As a result, the majority of today was at MSK and watched the Olympics while also getting some old-school video game time in with Travis.

The good news is my brain is starting to feel a lot better and the weather is in the 30s instead of the single digits so will be prioritizing getting outside / some other activities over the coming days.

I guess these updates won’t always be fun so this one’s a bit more gnarly.

Spent most of the day unexpectedly at the symptom center (basically a cordoned off urgent care for immunocompromised cancer patients) because I’ve had blood in my urine for the past couple days. Urination is extremely painful, do not recommend.

Good news is it’s not an infection. Hopefully get some more insight tomorrow.

Watched Miracle to get locked into the Olympics. For the Hackley crowd, apparently one of the curlers went to Hack?

Brain fog is starting to lessen at least, so I basically just trade one side effect for another each week.

Today would have been my great grandma’s 108th birthday. Shout out Grandmama, we miss you.

Woke up feeling pretty good but definitely fell off towards the end of the day.

Got a good walk in to/from the hydration infusion and was able to catch up with some friends / family throughout the day in between naps.

Hoping to be on the up and up starting tomorrow.

Definitely feeling it today. Dull headache/fog with fatigue and could not really stand or sit upright for more than a couple minutes so really took the day off.

Explained the entire plot of Star Wars to Court, that may have also contributed to the headache. Not sure for whom though…

The most unfortunate development is my mouth feels metallic and tastes are quite muted. Like, water tastes like it’s been outside in a tin pot for the last year. Ain’t no thang though, Court’s meals have still been hitting the spot (even if Kahlua Chili is out of the rotation right now…)

Hydration appointment tomorrow early.

Oura lost my data from today unfortunately. Kind of a bummer cause a bunch of my vitals changed.

Traded the indigestion for fatigue. Kept things super low-key, mostly on the couch punctuated by a fun Gap runway unboxing courtesy of Audrey & Dash.

Also, shoutout Benito. Epic set. Happy a Jets QB finally picked up a Super Bowl ring. That’s all I got.

Another day another dollar.

Got in a short Peloton ride in the morning (it was very light, I promise) since it’s -15 wind chill or whatever outside and that’s a hard pass for me.

Definitely started to fade towards the end of the day. The indigestion was very mild until the evening and then it was brutal until I went to sleep. Slept ok though. I’ve pretty consistently been sleeping through the night outside of one bathroom break since I’m drinking like 3-4L of water a day right now to ease the strain on the liver. One interesting data point from my Oura is how much less REM/deep sleep I’m getting despite sleeping 1+ hours more than I normally do.

It can be hard to concentrate a lot right now so reading is a bit harder and Court is not a fan of Mr. Robot, so I switched it up a bit. Don’t worry fam, we still have plenty of time for the good stuff in due time.

First infusion week is done! All things considered, it went about as well as I could hope outside of the first day.

My wife tells me this is a huge success. I am inclined to agree although it was both harder and easier than expected. Easier in that the infusions themselves have been fairly low-key, just long excursions. Harder because I didn’t realize I’m going to have the hiccups forever. It feels so lame as a symptom lol. If you ever play “Would you rather” with me in the future, just know hiccups are making an appearance.

Someone rang the bell today (for their last treatment) and got the most lackluster response. Going to need a bit more buy-in from the crowd when I ring it in a few weeks.

After my blanket story earlier this week, we received a gift from a friend today with a super soft Lola blanket so we’ll see if I learned my lesson.

This weekend is expected to be harder as some of the pre-med drugs from the infusions wear off a bit so just focused on staying hydrated and resting. Thanks again for coming along if you’ve made it this far. Maybe we’ll get into some more existential topics in the future when I’m properly medicated.

Also, shoutout to the early release of Industry this week due to the Super Bowl. DM to discuss.

Hiccups and a little heartburn are still the main culprits so far. It’s actually hilarious trying to talk normally with hiccups every 5th word, but they say it should subside towards the beginning of next week post-infusions. It’s mostly just frustrating because I woke up at 2am with hiccups, requiring me to take a pill before going back to sleep.

Almost done with week 1 already! Time’s flying by.

Court thinks it’s notable to mention that we found a new garage to park in, so that tells you how interesting our days are currently.

Not a lot to report today. Pretty similar day to yesterday as we were in and out of the infusion center in ~3 hours.

My Oura ring has been sending some hilariously ominous messages about “major signals of stress”. Alas, haven’t found a “chemo” button to press yet…will try to update the website sometime this week to allow screenshots for me to attach.

Had a fun little fever scare this morning. Your immune system responds more weakly to illness due to lack of white blood cells so if you have a fever of over 100.4, you are supposed to call your oncologist. I have a forehead thermometer that I use to measure at regular intervals regardless of symptoms just in case and one of my readings this morning was 100.5. Turns out, it was just due to a blanket on my head (iykyk) and all of my subsequent readings that morning and at the hospital were normal. Needless to say, we got a second, under-the-tougue thermometer for redundency purposes…

Someone texted me today to confirm that I was referring to the literal hiccups and not “hiccups in treatment”. I can confirm I meant it in the literal sense as the most common side effect I’ve had so far continues to be hiccups which arrive at the most inopportune times (i.e. pretty much anytime I try to speak).

Also continue to get a little bit more brain fog each day (still minor) but almost no nausea still with the updated dieting so we’ll take it.

Over hump day and back at it tomorrow. :) Let’s go!

Woke up today with a streaky bout of the hiccups. This is a known side effect, and who knew you could get a prescription to prevent hiccups using a type of muscle relaxer?

Overall, though, today was a lot easier than yesterday since we were able to use the non-reactive version of one of the drugs, avoiding the use of Benadryl such that I only really have a tiny bit of brain fog. What took ~6 hours yesterday took 3 hours today, which felt swift. We also were much more conscious with diet today, which meant I haven’t really felt any nausea since we used simpler, smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day (think overnight oats, eggs, soups, bananas, pho, etc.).

It’s been hard to not check Slack as there is so much exciting stuff going on at Air, but I’m trying to keep some reasonable boundaries as I know the symptoms get progressively worse over the days and weeks to follow.

All that being said, we’re still rocking and rolling. You’ll notice I made a few updates to the site today to add reactions and comments, so have at it! Appreciate all those who continue to reach out—I will get to your texts as I feel able!

Day 1! Wow, what a time to be alive.

This day ended up being a bit longer than anticipated as I had labs, a doctor visit, and then started the chemotherapy infusion. There are 3 steps in the infusion process:

1. You get hit with pre-meds, the majority of which are to prevent/manage nausea and allergic reactions to the first of 2 chemo drugs as part of my treatment plan.
2. First chemo drug (~4.5 hrs)
3. Second chemo drug (~30 mins)

One of the meds I took today specifically led to drowsiness, which was probably the most frustrating as it led to a handful of 5-minute bouts of sleep instead of a concrete nap. Also, I’ll need to dial in my diet slightly to keep the nausea at bay, I probably did not do myself any favors with a bit more grease/spice than necessary. Basically, during the first two weeks in particular, diet is a cross between recovering from a stomach bug (e.g., soups & bland foods) and being pregnant (e.g., no raw meats, etc.).

Overall, still a successful first day! Feeling good, and Court has been an A+ caregiver so far, even if she probably hates the hospital visits more than me. A fun little anecdote is that she could not fathom how my heart rate was so low (49) right before infusion when I should have been hyped up ha.

Anyways, this will probably be one of my longest updates as I anticipate future ones will be a bit more to the point, but there’s a lot of learning over these first days!

Final preparations are in order. Getting snacks, cozy clothes, and finishing this website. Hopefully, this is a fun, low-touch little side project over the next 3 months. I will hopefully be able to make some other additions over the weeks but don’t hold your breath!

Thanks for coming on this journey with me. I’ve been so appreciative of all of the outreach to date and will hopefully add something here of how to help soon.