The Results Are In… Good Bye Dark Days

On Saturday, I finally got the sleep my body had been craving since Monday. It was nice. I woke up intending to clean out the garage—but the only problem is, none of it’s mine. The majority of it belongs to Lola from the move, and it hasn’t been touched in over seven months.

I’d like her to tell me what she wants to keep so we can box it up and move it to the attic, and what can be donated. Right now, it’s just a messy pile.

There are two reasons I want it cleaned out. One: Noah is cleaning out his garage, and it’s inspired me to do the same. Two: I almost busted my ass last weekend trying to get to something so I could work in the yard.

I made a small breakfast and headed across town to get some special hot sauce. While I was in that area, I decided to look for sheep. I spent the better part of two hours on the north side of town, looking for and photographing sheep. That’s the area I had been missing.

Movie day! I was surprised to see the film Eddington playing in town, so of course I had to go. I love weird little indie movies—though this one featured some Oscar-winning actors. Does it still count as indie? Oh well. It was weird. Wry weird.

Set in late May 2020, during the early days of the pandemic, it begins with the divide between those who follow the mask mandate and those who don’t. That’s just the starting point. What happens next is combat-shit crazy—I’d have never seen it coming. Great film.

After the movie, I went home to see the family. They headed out to the grocery store, so I decided to take a little walk. I ended up walking over a mile by accident. It was rather nice, even if a bit warm. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve walked those trails since my divorce. I used to walk them for miles and miles during the pandemic. Walk until my shoes wore out. Watching that movie probably pushed me to walk them again on Saturday.

Sunday was a quiet morning. Yvette and I took advantage of the time while the kids were out to move boxes and bags from the garage up into the attic. The less interference, the better—prying eyes would have definitely put a damper on things. We figured that if this stuff hasn’t been missed or needed in over 7–8 months, no one’s going to notice it’s gone. We made a pretty good dent. Lord, does Lola have a lot of stuff she could probably do without.

After chores, we cleaned up and headed to Yvette’s parents’ place for lunch: Salisbury steak, potatoes, green beans, and some fantastic squash. It was a nice visit with good company. To me, it felt like we hadn’t had lunch with them in a while. I think we really hadn’t—our weekends have been so busy lately. It was nice to have a calm, low-key weekend for a change.

Turns out the hose spigot out back has a leak where the pipe connects. It was bent to hell when I moved in. My best guess is that someone wasn’t paying attention and either carelessly hit it while moving something or slammed the fence into it. I’ve been careful for seven years not to hit it, but I think time—and our lovely water—finally took its toll.

Unfortunately, the only way to fix it is by shutting off water to the entire house. So this will need to be handled quickly in the coming days. Damn bummer.

Ah, life…

I tried to do some yard work—mainly spraying weeds. My pump sprayer finally gave up, so I just poured the poison directly on the plants and tossed that piece of shit sprayer in the garbage. I wasn’t really in the mood anyway—it was hot outside.

I finished the last two episodes of Chapelwaite. What a great show to knock out in a week. We really need more miniseries—ones that actually stick to that format. Too often, a stand-alone miniseries does well, and the greedy hands that be decide to make more, source material be damned.

This show gave you just enough to make you want more, but still left you satisfied with a legit ending. Adrien Brody was great. The ending was absolutely epic. I hope more filmmakers learn from this and figure out how to properly adapt Stephen King’s short stories. His short story collections are such fertile ground.

Monday was a busy day, both at work and personally. I had two appointments to schedule for myself, and work was just crazy. I walked in and barely had time to settle before I was out the door, running around for someone. Both my work and personal phones were off the damn hook.

Amid the chaos, I managed to secure a campus plumber to come take a look at my leak. I also had my first Staff Senate meeting of the new term. I’m officially a senator again… and honestly, I’m starting to wonder why the hell I keep signing up for this. Still, I decided that this time, I’d actually participate. My first time as a senator, I barely did anything. Then, as an alternate, I was slightly more involved. But in this meeting, I voted, I made my voice heard—I spoke up. I know how this works better than most of the newbies in the room.

After work, the plumber came over and fixed the leak without any invasive damage, for a very reasonable price I must add. I told him I’ll definitely be calling again in the future.

Later, it was time to head over to Noah and Nadia’s for a little cookout. Yvette and I brought steak, pork ribeye, sausage, and chicken. I made a pasta salad. Noah’s new Blackstone grill was really nice to cook on. I want one!!! It was a great evening of good food and fun.

Pizza Hut has a $2 personal pan pizza deal on Tuesday. It sure seemed like a good idea for a cheap meal. After work I picked up some fresh wings from HEB to give us more protein with a salad for good measure to go with our carb full pizza. Yvette called it in and I went to pick it up when the time was right. It wasn’t right. The place was a total shit show. Unorganized and about a 30 min extra wait. One should expect this kind of mess on a day with such an amazing special. Oh well, the wings would be ready and I was in no hurry. I people watched and chuckled at the frustration of the patrons that were waiting longer than I.

I’ve had a bit of a medical scare over the last two months.

I’ve been bounced around between doctors, specialists, MRI techs, lab techs, and different cities trying to get to the bottom of a little mystery. That mystery was discovered when I had my spine checked out after a back injury in 2023 — a very, very small cyst was found on my pancreas.

Nothing of concern at the time, but my doctor wanted to keep an eye on it. This April, we scheduled another MRI — this time with complete 3D imaging of the pancreas. The results came in mid-June, and they weren’t great. It appeared I had a number of new growths and a narrowed duct. The growths were initially labeled as “pre-cancerous.” Was a sleeping beast lying dormant within me? I didn’t know. I wasn’t feeling the least bit abnormal.

My primary care physician referred me to a gastroenterologist. After reviewing my results, the gastroenterologist decided that a biopsy and more advanced imaging were necessary. He referred me to one of the best doctors in the state, located in San Antonio. In San Antonio, I underwent an EGD-EUS procedure. I won’t go into detail about that joyous experience… good times.

Anyway, the pathology report came back Monday. After a virtual meeting Wednesday with the specialist, it’s been determined that everything is benign. I have no new growths. The findings were all related to chronic pancreatitis, which likely dates back to my late 20s. There were calcifications in the head of the pancreas and a stricture in the neck — but no new growths were discovered. A heavy sigh of relief.

The doctor does not believe any further measures are necessary, aside from a follow-up in a year just to make sure nothing has changed.

It’s been a little stressful, but Wednesday was a very good day. A dark cloud has been lifted off my back.

I honestly woke up Wednesday morning around 4 AM knowing I was going to be diagnosed with cancer. I haven’t been sleeping well for the last two months, with these kinds of dark thoughts bouncing around my skull in the nocturnal hours.

Bless Yvette for putting up with my distant ass. She has helped lift my spirits in ways she will never fully understand. I know I haven’t been the same these last few months. I’ve been stressed to levels I didn’t even know existed. Thoughts of starting this new life with my family — and having it ripped away so early — had crossed my mind. I didn’t want something to happen to me for their sake. I have a reason to live, and it is my family.

That’s been my summer. Now onward to the good times. Fuck the dark days of summer.

It was a wonderful morning. After the good news, I just drove around to my various stops with the windows down, soaking in the good vibes carried by the cool morning air. I couldn’t get over how great I felt. It reminded me of the feeling I had when I was first released from the hospital after my diabetic ketoacidosis — like a fresh start. And thankfully, it came just in time for next week’s vacation.

Thursday was about as typical as work gets. That evening, we bought groceries to cook burgers over at Noah’s. His Blackstone is much better equipped for cooking a big batch. I had my first real experience on the grill — I was in charge of the burgers. I love that Blackstone and desperately want one of my own. We had fun. It was a nice family night.

The week was finally coming to a close — thank the heavens!!! Friday was busy, and that’s just what I needed. It’s the only way to plow through a long week. I was glad to be getting away from work for a while. I’m really looking forward to a little vacation. Whenever I found some free time, I looked up things to do in Galveston. I like to have a bit of an idea of what to expect.

After work, I went to the store to pick up things for dinner. I was grilling and making pasta. I decided to have a beer while standing outside over the heat — it was a refreshing beverage. Dinner turned out quite nice.

It was time to start packing. Yeah, I’m starting early. I feel like I might be bringing too much. We’ll have a washer and dryer, and it’s only three nights. But it’s the beach — which can easily make you need to change. Better to have too much than not enough.

Happy Friday!!! Happy National Wine & Cheese Day!!