TL;DR - A Short Post

Recently my wife told me something I never thought I would hear from her or anyone:
"It's annoying how little you complain about the chemo."
Actually, it's something I never thought I would hear any wife/husband say to their husband/wife if you take away the last three words.

I have not completely processed the statement yet but just to be clear: I do not enjoy the chemo experience.

Yesterday morning our local NBC affiliate aired this neat little segment on me and my record collection:

 

It has prompted some great response from virtually everyone who has watched it. Sincerely - I am very, very grateful. I encourage sharing this with anyone who might enjoy it.

In the video I am described as fighting stage four brain cancer. I was initially surprised to hear it - I mean, I do not have stage four brain cancer. I had not mentioned anything about a cancer stage during the interview. It was not a big deal, took nothing away from the segment - they did a great job with such a limited subject matter (haha).
Eventually I realized my last post on this blog began with the cheap joke "Brain cancer is actually really easy to beat. I'm already at stage 4." There arguably isn't such a thing as stage 4 brain cancer. There are stages for cancer in general, but brain tumors are more typically represented in grades. It is fairly common knowledge that "stage four cancer" is bad which is the basis for the joke from the blog.
I should have considered the possibility that one could take the statement literally. With this in mind I thought it might be useful to give a quick rundown/refresher on all tumor-related things - set the record straight, if you will:

• Tumor type: Papillary Tumor of the Pineal Region
• Read about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papillary_tumors_of_the_pineal_region
• There are around 130 different types of brain tumors. Many of the more common types are wildly different from this one.
• A recent case study on this tumor noted an 85% survival rate for 36 months after diagnosis. I do not know what this means for time after 36 months. I was diagnosed 48 months ago. Regardless, this probably means around 15% of people did not receive treatment in that time.
• I have repeatedly promised Devin that I will never die which is probably a more important consideration.
• Self-imposed tumor name/nickname: "BKP"
• Stands for Bernard Karmell Pollard, retired NFL Safety who:
• Tackled Tom Brady in the first quarter of the first game of the 2008 season, tearing Tom's ACL, tackled Wes Welker in the final regular season game of 2009, tearing Welker's ACL/MCL, tackled Rob Gronkowski in the 2011 AFC Championship game, causing a high ankle sprain which limited Gronkowski in the Super Bowl loss two weeks later, and tackled Stevan Ridley in the 2012 AFC Championship game, causing a concussion.
• All of these people played for the New England Patriots, while Pollard played for three different teams during this time.
• I realize this entire section is way too much information for most, but it comes up often.
• Brain surgery history:
• Biopsy (Nov. 2015 - WellStar Kennestone)
• Shunt placement (Dec. 2015 - WellStar Kennestone)
• Resection (Jan. 2016 - Duke Cancer Center)
• Tumor grade: 3
• Previously thought to be grade 2, presumably identified as 3 once it returned in 2018. Read about tumor grades here: https://www.cancer.net/cancer-types/brain-tumor/grades-and-prognostic-factors
• Tumor grade info more specific to my tumor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papillary_tumors_of_the_pineal_region#Grading
• Tumor classification: malignant
• Identified as malignant once it returned in 2018.
• Seeing it labeled as "malignant" on a document recently was a difficult experience on an emotional level. Ignorance was bliss on that front.

• Chemo type: Carboplatin
• Chemo side-effects I have experienced: extreme fatigue, nausea (etc), mental/memory lapses, "chemo fog"
• Original chemo infusion frequency/duration plan: every 3 weeks for up to a year.
• Up to 17-18 total infusions
• Source: my calculator when dividing 52 weeks by 3.
• Infusions completed at the time of this post: 10
• Current/new chemo infusion frequency plan: every 4-5 weeks for up to a year.
• Completed infusions plus projected remaining infusions by the one-year point: 15
• Change in plan is recent development, occurring because the chemo is working!
• Post-chemo plans of note:
• Likely minor surgical procedure to correct double vision
• Trip to Cooperstown, NY - baseball hall of fame
• Outliving everyone reading this
• No current plans to commit murder to achieve this.
• If I had more charisma I'd consider a Jonestown situation...
• Not really.