Better Than My Last Birthday!
This time last year, I was in the chemo chair. Today, I celebrate my 37th birthday in Scandinavia with Satya! Here’s a little update from the road…
Hello, Beloveds,
I write with good tidings as I celebrate my 37th birthday!
Satya and I are nearing the end our joyful behemoth of an adventure, and I wanted to take a quick moment to share the results of my most recent scan before coming home from Scandinavia with yet another batch of stories to tell.
If you caught my last post, you’ll recall that, after having my last CT scan postponed in June due to a national supply shortage in the radioactive dye used to perform the test, my imaging session was scheduled for July 6th — the day before Satya and I were to depart for a month in Europe.
That morning, we left Sonoma County and visited the hospital in Marin on our way to San Francisco to embark on this adventure, making an overnight stop at my mother’s house near SFO before flying out the following day.
That evening, the results arrived in my inbox:
The size of the node we’ve been tracking has decreased further still: from 1.4 centimeters in March, to just 1.1 cm in this last scan. That’s just a tenth of a centimeter greater than our 1-cm target size, making this yet another major step in the right direction!
While I was hoping to give this email a flashy and celebratory headline like “Remission Accomplished!,” I technically have a bit further to go — one tenth of one centimeter, to be exact — before I can truly begin the grand NEDfest celebration.
I will, however, joyfully share that I got an email from my doctor through the online patient portal inviting me to schedule a follow-up scan in four months (rather than the typical two-month interval). This feels like unequivocally happy news.
My mother cried tears of relief when I shared the results with her on the eve of my departure with Satya on our monthlong journey. Indeed, it was a good note on which to depart. With continued improvement in my health, I’ve felt increasingly confident heading off into this grand adventure.
I’m writing this message from Oulu, Finland, with just a few days to go on our big trip — and so far, it has been amazing. I’ve posted some photos of early trip highlights on social media, but there are several days of latency between actual events and the sharing of photos. I’ve been too deep in the moment to spend much time futzing around with my phone. You can see those pics on my instagram and facebook pages, and a few quick snapshots below.
The real highlight of the trip so far has been the several days we spent in Sweden (and now Finland), visiting distant relatives — meeting many family members for the first time, swimming in the seas where our ancestors bathed, visiting the graves of our forefathers, and experiencing our ancestral homeland firsthand.
I look forward to sharing this story upon my return to the US and catching up on posting photos of the second half of our journey. I have been keeping a daily journal, and I am excited to spend time this coming season integrating, distilling and sharing highlights of my experience. For now, though, I am out living it!
On this special day, I just wanted to check in quickly with the happy news from my last scan. As I complete another solar return and reflect on how far I’ve come (especially since this time last year, when I was writing a post from an infusion reclinerin the chemo room at the hospital), I can’t help but bask in awe and gratitude. Life is a gift every day, and this last month on the road with my daughter has been an extra-powerful and soul-touching reminder of how fortunate we are to be enjoying this experience of aliveness.
I’m so glad to be here. And I’m glad to be here with you. Thanks for your companionship and sacred witnessing. I sincerely hope this finds you in great health and happiness!
Much love always,
Nils
