Hot scalpel summer

Today is my birthday, usually a high point of summer fun. But this summer hasn’t gone quite as planned.

Just a tick up on the prostate antigen scale in my annual physical blood work. “You should get an MRI”, said my doc. Got the test. MRI studied it, “Uh, you should get a biopsy”. Suffered the biopsy. And finally the urologist: “You have cancer”. Quick like that.

Last summer was a lot different. Took an incredible 3-week roadtrip through the American West, vacationed with friends in Turks & Caicos, celebrated my birthday underwater in Curaçao. But this is the ebb and flow of life. Last year riding the surf; this year dragged out by the riptide.

The lesion was small, localized only to the prostate, and treatable, but it was still shocking news. We moved fairly quickly and this past Monday I had the misbehaving cells (and mostly useless host organ) surgically removed. Recovering now, hopefully back to full strength soon with undetectable antigen levels after that. Happy to talk more with anyone about specifics, options evaluated, the scalpel-wielding robot, and such. Hit me up, middle-aged men!

Not calling it a W just yet, but it is late in the game and I’m up by a lot — mostly because of incredible teammates: family near and far, friends, friends who are urologists, friends who beat me at tennis on the regular, and colleagues. You know who you are and how much I appreciate you. ♥️

Oh look, the riptide is dying down. Think I’ll swim back to shore, have a birthday cupcake, and plan some new adventures.