The pathology report from the surgery is back and it’s very good. No lymph nodes affected, an awesome margin…

However…

The tumor itself was bigger than they had thought, than had been revealed by the CT scans, MRI, and ultrasound. 4.5 centimeters (that’s 1.7716535433 inches) of cancerous fury that managed to make itself T3 instead of a T2. What this means: it broke out and hit some muscle, kicking my cancer into Stage II instead of Stage I. Stage II means that radiation is back on the table as a possible course of further treatment.

We have an appointment with the radiation oncologist on Monday, but according to the surgeon, the game now seems to be about decreasing the chances of re-occurrence. Radiation will help this, of course, but comes with its own issues and risks. This was not the news we were expecting to receive. After two months of emotional whiplash, Lisa and I are pretty much spent and tired of having our expectations of how this is going play out blown to pieces over and over. Fucking cancer.

As the band X once sang: “This is the game that moves as you play”.