Sad News

I have some sad news to share.

I’ve recently been diagnosed with Stage IV cancer. The prognosis is not good. At this point, the Dr’s don’t talk about a cure, but more about mechanisms to attenuate the growth and spread of the cancer. Hopefully this will buy me a little extra time. Unfortunately, the units of time they talk about are measured in months, not years.

I’ve just undergone surgery to have a Hickman line installed, and am about to start chemotherapy. I’ve also signed up to be a participant in an experimental drug trial; not that anyone’s expecting it to be a miracle cure, but I hope that it might provide some helpful data for others who are to come downstream of me. Finally, being a good data scientist, I’m participating in a research study providing regular samples so that my progression can be converted into numbers. I’ll live on in some database, somewhere …

Everyone reacts a little differently to chemotherapy, so I don’t know how functional I’m going to be. As my strength allows, I’m going to try and continue posting here (I enjoy writing my blog postings as they give me pleasure, pride, and purpose). My treatment cadence is every two weeks, so my writing output is probably going to reduce as I spend quality time with my family and recover between doses.

Cancer has been a cruel mistress to my family. I lost my brother to bone cancer when he was just sixteen, and my late mother succumbed to cancer a few years ago. I’m really hoping that smart people are going to find cures for cancer (and other terrible diseases) in the not too distant future. One of the straws I’m holding onto is that maybe, in some microscopically trivial way, one of my silly articles will inspire some future student to further their education, or follow their geeky curiosity in science, engineering, or math and help accelerate this outcome. I’m going to think about each of my articles as fluttering butterfly wings …

Preempting any possible reactions (I know it’s human nature to want to offer help), but thank you, I’m doing fine. I’m not in any pain, and (again thank you) I really don’t need anything. You can help by doing wonderful things, and simply moving the needle in whatever you do in life to make the World a better place.

Thanks for being a reader of my blog.