I think I've played more basketball (and potentially better quality basketball) this year than any other in my 30's.

It's a weird standard to care so much about considering it's all amateur exercise, but it's still the thing I love most, so it's incredibly fulfilling after what

My dad and my cousin are visiting me, and all three of us are cancer survivors (My dad and I having had recurrences in the last year+).

We went to dinner last night and the topic never came up - I feel like we should win some sort of award for that.

Or maybe just me, as I'm the

Because there’s been some good discourse about ‘cancer recovery takes longer than you expect’ in the community today, I’ll keep sharing my version.

I’ve felt like balls this week. My hips hurt, my energy has been low, I’ve been sleeping 10 hours a night and still waking up

I make a smoothie pretty much every morning for breakfast. It has both tumeric and ginger root included - about a thumb-sized piece of each.

This morning, I forgot to throw them in the blender. Being the pragmatist that I am, I decided the best move was just to eat them raw like

Getting a cortisone combo meal in my hip and my shoulder today.

I have a freckle that is almost certainly going to be shaved from its mortal plane at derm in a month.

There's a lymph node in my groin that's about 5% too weird for my liking - not even close to panic time, but

Alright, one sappy/sentimental photo, courtesy of my lovely girlfriend who set all of the components up ❤️

And to think, at one point I physically couldn’t smile in photos during my first treatment 😬

#thankscancer #melanoma

Cheers to you, and cheers to me 🍻

Cheers to good fortune, but also cheers to the less fortunate people who were tough as nails but deserved better.

Ready for year two of remission.

#thankscancer #mentalhealth

Today, I’m exactly one year into remission from cancer.

Again.

It turns out that it wasn’t illegal to get cancer twice as I purported between 2019-2023 during my first remission from stage a stage 3c melanoma diagnosis.

But now that I’m in remission from a stage 4 recurrence,

I'm all set to have a pretty big cancerversary tomorrow (don't worry, you'll hear all about it), and was talking with my brother about it:

'Unless something weird happens before then, it's gonna be pretty awesome'

'I think you're pretty safe unless you get randomly diagnosed

A year ago, my cancer treatment was paused due to autoimmune hepatitis, gastritis, and transaminitis - basically, my body was just pissed off and mostly inflamed/inoperable.

I was put on high-dose prednisone, stopped being bedridden, and began recovering weight from a low of 147

I had a pretty quiet day schedule-wise, so I decided to go into the introspection den.

Journaled a bit. Walked around my town with no phone until I found some sort of clarity.

When we suffer long-term trauma like cancer, there are lots of things to unpack - if we even want to.

At least cancer didn't rob me of my hubris:

I went for 7 days of hoops in a row. Played pickup when I should have rested.

Now my hips are reminding me that I am DEFINITELY a 36-year-old arthritic cancer patient, and not 26.

Still worth it 😬

#thankscancer #ballislife

One of the frustrating things about how cancer has affected my physical and mental health is the decrease in my ability to troubleshoot problems by examining other behaviors.

Like, if I'm fatigued, or I have trouble sleeping, or I'm depressed, etc., most of the time I'm just

Scored 35 in a reffed basketball game for the second time in a week after not doing it for years.

Having steak & eggs (and a beer 😬) for dinner at 11:00 pm.

Stage 4 melanoma and arthritic hips be damned, I'm feeling more 26 than 36 in a year where I've often felt more 76 than

I'm about to play basketball for the 5th day in a row - 3rd day in an officiated league game, too.

I haven't done this since my 20's, and for all I've complained about the ebbs and flows of my energy, I feel pretty great (it's pregame right now, so maybe check with me later).

When the immunotherapy kicks in and the T-cells finally recognize the cancer as a threat

There’s a big difference between holding yourself accountable and being harsh to yourself - but it’s a line we all blur at times.

As cancer patients, we face a lot of issues that we didn’t cause. Except we kinda did, because our bodies did.

So it’s a tough exercise to separate

Episode 3,000,007 of Cancer Recovery Isn't Linear:

I'm in a good place overall. Physically doing well, about to be 1 year in remission, mentally holding it together.

This leads to pushing boundaries, which is generally what I want; it's how you test and improve things.

I've