11/1/2024

Hi all,

Just wanted to share along a health update as there's been a lot of things that have happened in the last two weeks. I've caught up with some of you on bits and pieces of this, and thought Caring Bridge might be a place where I could more easily update folks all at once.

Two years ago, I found out I had colon cancer through a routine colonoscopy (PSA - get your colonoscopy done if you are overdue!). I had a colon resection shortly after and have worked on recovery since.

In a routine check-up with my oncologist two weeks ago, my lab work showed a spike in my "tumor markers", commonly used to track spread in some cancers like colon cancer. So we did a quick CT scan which showed a couple of lesions on my liver, with the larger one around 7.5 cm. After a biopsy of the liver tissue earlier this week, we confirmed that the colon cancer had metastasized to the liver.

Now with stage 4 colon cancer, we are moving fairly quickly with next steps. Next week is booked up with a PET scan, chemo prep, EKG, and hopefully surgery to install my port for chemo infusion. And then I'm scheduled to begin chemo on Monday Nov 11th.

The goal of chemo is to get the cancer spread under control, so we will keep a close eye on the tumor markers in my lab work as well as some regular imaging of the liver. We would like to see the tumors on the liver shrinking some, which would indicate we are moving in the right direction. The goal after that would be to have a surgery to remove the rest of the suspect tissue in the liver.

Luckily I have a brilliant wife who is well-versed in holisitic nutrition, so we will also be doing all we can to help my body from that angle too.

"Stage 4 cancer" certainly has a ring to it, but I've done this before! And my oncologist has experience with our planned approach as, unfortunately, it's not uncommon for colon cancers to move to the liver.

So that's all the medical stuff.

The last two weeks have been a roller coaster of all the thoughts, feelings, fears, and hopes. Lots of meditation and deep breathing to get present. Stacey and I find ourselves both awake at odd times of night as our minds start running. It's definitely different doing this now as a husband and dad, as compared to my Hodgkin's treatment in my rowdy twenties.

Overall I feel better now as the picture has become clearer and a plan is coming together. I'm ready to get to work on this.

Thanks for all the good thoughts and prayers. I always feel so lucky to have these wonderful communities around me. We might need to lean on community a bit during this adventure, and only hope to offer that back when we can.

I was just chatting with some good friends about this all. It does suck, no doubt. AND the beauty of an experience like this, at least for me, is that everything is quickly put in it's right place. Any BS falls away, the connections feel deeper, the little things are noticed, and the main things are the main things. As useful, maybe this might offer a reminder for you to focus in on your main things. As someone smarter than me said, "this ain't no dress rehearsal."

Love your people well. And so much gratitude for each of you.

With love,Matt