The Zipperleg Chronicles - Fighting cancer with style!

Better Living Through ChemistryPosted on Fri, Jun 24, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

It’s been a crazy, exhaustive and wild three weeks since the surgery. My incisions have almost completely healed, and I will be able to resume lifting heavy things soon, like Izzy!

The official word came back: the lumps they took out had negative margins, which is just a doctor’s important-sounding way of saying the edges of what they cut didn’t have any cancer, so that means they got it all. Yay!

We started talking with my oncologist about possible next steps, and she thought I might be a candidate for an upcoming trial vaccine, so I had to get scanned again to make sure I was clear… and the stupid dot in my right lung must have gotten jealous of all the attention the other ones got, so it’s decided to start growing. It’s like Whack-a-Mole without the big, soft mallets.

So, the thinking goes, it’s time for the nuclear option. I will be starting chemotherapy in the coming weeks to kick this junk out of my body once and for all. The good news about that new tumor is that it will act as a barometer to let us know if the treatment is working. They’re starting me off on a very targeted, single-chemical treatment that was recently developed for my type of cancer. The good news is that it has very few side effects, and while it’s possible I might lose my hair, it’s unlikely it would make much of a difference at this point.

There was another option for a treatment, but it would require repeated overnight hospital visits in Newark. So given the choice between Newark or death, I told them I’d have to think about it.

For those of you wondering if you should come visit, here’s a helpful article which has given Kristin and I many laughs in the past few weeks. Take it with a grain of salt. http://nyti.ms/juwR7T

On a social note, Izzy will be spending the month of July with her biological Dad, which means both Kristin and I will have a lot more time to see people, have dinners, and so forth, so let the party begin! I’m really looking forward to going out and having fun as much as possible. If I’m too tired, I’ll let you know. You can always go out with Kristin and have a drink for me.

I love you and miss you. Yes, you.

– Ben

About the Author

An actor trained in physical theater, living in New York City, livin' the dream. I am married to an amazing woman without whom I'd probably be dead by now, and step-dad to the irrepressible Izzy! I sculpt masks, I juggle, I act, I design graphically-type-stuff, and when offered the choice between two evils, I take the one I've never tried before. I listen, I fly planes, I bike to the beach, I am a tea brewing ninja, I design new board games with my daughter, and I tell stories... too many stories. And while I used to be trying to learn to juggle my work, living in this city, my dreams, my wife, but now I am reminded every day they are all one, all my life, and every day is one more day I get to live it.