As you all are wrapping up your Fridays, crafting your final memes before you depart for the holiday break, I wanted to post one last time to share an update and my appreciation for all the support I have received over the course of 2024.
It has been a rough year for me and my family. The worst year of my adult life.
The short version is, in February my wife was unexpectedly diagnosed with cancer.
For reference, here are posts from this year: Part 1, Feb | Part 2, Feb | Part 3, Feb | Part 4, Mar | Part 5, Apr | Part 6, Aug
As I go back to read that first post, I get emotional.
As 2024 began, my wife was dealing with the severe backpain, but we felt very positive overall. We had discussed our goals and the word "Renaissance" had actually come up - the kids were finally old enough to not be babies, we had both started getting back to the gym, really buckling-down on our foods, I was going for a promotion at work... 2024 was going to be the year we broke out of the baby-induced slump that we had been in.
For myself, the goals were to register 200 workouts at my gym and go for the job the promotion.
To give a sense of where I was at mentally, the day prior to my wife's diagnosis, I had posted Chop Wood, Carry Water on SN.
I was locked-in and feeling great.
Then the wheels came off.
Everything I do in my life is for my family. Sure, I post memes on Nostr, go down rabbit holes that are interesting, and occasionally spend time on projects like Meshtastic or Home Assistant - but really that is all for the family too. Suddenly, we were thrown into chaos and I felt like Spider-Man trying to hold together the ferry boat with his webs...
The chemotherapy was the worst part. We had a lot of support throughout it, but really I felt alone for most of it. People bring meals or send gifts or check-in, but I was in the day-to-day grind of keeping the family running.
After the first cycle of chemotherapy, it felt like the fairy dust and unending help of others had worn off - the news was old, people were going back to their normal lives, and yet my family was just entering into hellcycle of my wife's treatment. Some unexpected people showed-up very big for us, while other people seemed to disappear from our lives.
To be honest, I don't quite know how I got through it. My kids were incredible, I asked for help when I really really needed it, I took half-days at work, cut out all the extra bullshit, came to SN to vent a bit ... my life is all my own making, and being a middle-aged conspiracy theorist has not provided me a lot of close friendships.
My wife went into the ER/hospital 3 times between March and June. Ultimately she has been in much better health through the 2nd half of the year (radiation was nothing compared to chemotherapy) and surgery is now planned for January - that will hopefully be the last big hurdle, with another smaller surgery is April. She has been exercising and living a mostly normal life since July.
In September, my dog got sick, keeping me up for hours at night. We had begun asking "how much is enough ... " but thankfully his health has improved thorough a lot of care and I am again sleeping mostly through the night. (this sounds a bit ridiculous in the context of life, but I wasn't going to let that dog go without a big fight)
Wins for 2024
- Kept the wheels on through wife's treatment
- Still on target to hit my 200 workouts this year ( 3 more to go )
- Wrote "ebook" about Consistency at www.plebstr.xyz
- My kids are awesome (they started soccer, dance, rifle shooting, and more this year)
- Wife still kicking
Not taking any Ls worth noting.
See you next year.