6 Months

Hey everybody, it’s been awhile! In fact it’s been exactly 6 months to the day since my last chemo infusion. Time for a few quick updates.

My cancer is still in remission! I’ve had two CT scans so far (one in May and one in August), and a blood test two weeks ago and things are looking good. I have my next CT scan the beginning of January. This is the new normal for me, periodic monitoring to make sure the cancer isn’t coming back. The blood tests/CT scans still cause some anxiety, but I think I’m getting better at dealing with the anxiety.

I’m doing Movember, but not quite in the traditional sense. I shaved off my recently re-acquired and beloved beard, and am re-growing the beard for the month of November. We have a family photo shoot November 24th, then I’m shaving the beard to a mustache. I didn’t want a mustache in the family photos (sorry Dad, I know it was cool in the 90’s). If you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, Movember is a movement/organization/event that aims to bring awareness to and raise money for men’s health with a goal of “tackling Prostate Cancer, Testicular Cancer, Mental Health AND Suicide Prevention.” It’s not too late to grow a mustache dudes!

I also recently started rock climbing. I joined a local climbing gym, Mesa Rim, with my friends Keegan, Nancy, and Alex. I am not very good and at times it is super frustrating, but I LOVE IT. Like seriously love it a lot. I love it so much I’ve been going 3 times a week, and twice a week I wake up at 5:30 in the morning to hit the climbing gym at 6am with Alex and Keegan!

I have big goals for this climbing hobby, and those goals include someday climbing in Yosemite.

Six years ago my friend Chris Reynolds and I went backpacking in Yosemite. We backpacked the High Sierra loop near Tuolumne Meadows, and it was wonderful. Near the end we camped at Cathedral Lake, which is at the base of the famous Cathedral Peak that John Muir first climbed in 1869. It’s a stunning place (see below). Our last full day of backpacking was pretty chill and I attempted to summit Cathedral Peak solo, but failed. It’s a fairly intense, dangerous class 4+ hike/climb and I’m glad I turned around.

The next day hiking out from Cathedral Lake, we passed two female rock climbers with their full racks of climbing gear headed to climb Cathedral Peak. I was jealous, and realized I was woefully under-skilled and not at all prepared or equipped to climb Cathedral Peak. Since that failed summit attempt and seeing those two female climbers I’ve wanted to start rock climbing but have never gotten into it. Thanks to my friends and my company who pays for my gym membership, I am now training with the ultimate goal of doing a number of famous climbs in Yosemite! Cathedral Peak is the near term (probably about 2 years out), but there are more famous difficult climbs I would eventually like to try.

Lisa and Elliot are both doing well, and the little dude is starting to talk a lot! We had a great quick family vacation to Palm Springs a few weeks ago. It was our first “real” vacation of the year, since 9 weeks away from work for chemo doesn’t really count as vacation, ha!

That’s what’s been happening lately. I’d love to hear from you so feel free to text, call, comment, or email if you’d like to say hey!

Happy Movember!

-B