Catchup of most of 2021

 I ignored this blog for 10 years. They have been good years. But this post is not to talk about them. This post is to share that our family has been touched by cancer. It's a weird thing to say, and a weird thing to write. It's a word that everyone knows can be in their life, but until that moment comes, deep down, we don't truly believe it.

Before Joseph was born, as early as 2019, Ben was having symptoms of constipation. It was an annoyance, no more. He received a colonoscopy that year that came out clean. Once or twice a year, his constipation would be bad enough that it would prevent him from eating much for a few days, but as always, he never missed a day of work. Ben powers through adversity.

By December of 2020, he and his GI doc were investigating more seriously. He tested positive for having the bacteria H. pylori living in his gut. This was a very small probability that cancer was his problem. By February of 2021, in addition to lower abdominal pain, he developed upper abdominal pain, and he began to have trouble swallowing. He received an upper endoscopy in March of this year that gave him a diagnosis of stomach cancer.

In April he received an exploratory surgery that revealed he has metastasis elsewhere in his abdominal cavity. Stage IV stomach cancer. 

Within days, he was able to begin chemotherapy and immunotherapy every two weeks. We began doing all the fun things we've always meant to do (more about that in a separate post), and also tried to keep our family life as normal as possible. Except for every other Friday, and eventually part of the following Monday, he worked full time for those six months of chemotherapy.

Ben with his wonderful chemo nurse

In August, he had a second upper endoscopy because his ability to swallow was again being compromised. The stomach tumor was revealed to have shrunk in one direction, but elongated in another and was growing toward the gastroesophogeal junction. 

Ben elected in October to have radiation therapy targeted at his stomach tumor to prevent it from encroaching further on his esophagus. Radiation therapy was every weekday for 14 treatments. Each day, he would work until about 3pm, then head over to the cancer center (here in Visalia) for his treatment, followed by a slow evening at home to rest. He 'graduated' from radiation therapy on October 26th.