The 53rd Revolution

...and the most amazing cake, ever

Out of the 53 times that I’ve been on this planet as it revolves completely around the sun, the last one was the toughest. Diagnosed in late August, I spent the majority of my 53rd year dealing with the ups and downs, small victories & disappointments, and lasting physical effects of metastatic seminoma. I think back to right after I was diagnosed, when I went with the first recommendation from my urologist and met with an oncologist who told me “you’ll be cancer-free by Christmas.” I adopted this as my credo, telling everyone around me not to worry about the scary cancer word. I had the most curable and treatable form of one of the most treatable and curable cancers. What could possibly go wrong? I didn’t know then that just over 83% of seminoma patients, most far younger than I, responded favorably to the first round of chemotherapy. I had no idea that the journey in front of me wouldn’t end around Christmas, and that in July of 2022…I’d not only still be dealing with the effects of the cancer that had spread to a few distant lymph nodes and a tumor in my abdomen…but that I’d be gearing up for a hell of a fight with a second round of high-dose chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant looming ahead.

Here’s how I’ve come to see it: