Finishing Chemo

The second half of treatment felt like it went by faster than the first, or maybe I just got better at distracting myself and dissociating on treatment weeks.

I learned a few things along the way. Icing my hands and mouth during treatment helps a lot with mouth sores and neuropathy. My main symptoms have been bad stomach aches, headaches, soreness, and fatigue. The best way I can describe it is: doing a fourteener, dehydrated, with IBS. Most of the following days after a treatment, I was lucky if I could do a small lap around the block without being too exhuasted. I had some amazing times on the good weeks, so I will focus on those in this post.

November 6th - December 3

My friend Max came into town from NYC with his girlfriend Kate, and we went to the City Museum, got soup dumplings, and took my son to nature play. My brother Michael was in town and joined us for some things too.

My family also went hiking at Castlewood. Parking is a total nightmare there if you get a late start!

I managed to make it to the climbing gym a few times and attend a yoga clinic.

December 3–9

My son took his first steps and is now standing up on his own from the floor. Watching that happen felt unreal.

I started seeing a new therapist to help with my transition back into post-cancer life. He’s great, and the office is super convenient.

We inherited a pool table, so I’ve been practicing. You can't own a pool table and be bad at it. I am definitely rusty.

At work, I’ve been cleaning up some old code to get ready for our new product, and I’ve been working on Bluetooth functionality.

I’ve also been playing music with some of my older brother’s friends and having a great time. Hoping we can play some bars in 2026 🎸. We still need a bass player; maybe I’ll switch to bass. HMU if you want to play sometime, like jam bands, and live in STL.

Dec 10

Today was my last chemotherapy infusion for my Hodgkin’s Lymphoma treatment.

This is the hardest thing I have ever had to endure, and there were many times I wanted to give up.

Thank you, Adrienne, for being there for me in my darkest hours. I love you.

Thank you to my son for being our radiant beam of light and joy.

Thank you, Lori and Andy, for all of the additional help and support.

Thank you to all my friends for the jam sessions, climbing sessions, virtual and non-virtual hangs.

Thank you my fellow Lymphomies and survivors for all of the advice and inspiration.

Thank you to my work team and coworkers for showing me grace during all of this.

Thank you to Michael, Drew, and Mom and Dad for the help, hangs, walks, and phone calls.

Thank you for all of the food and everything else.

Thank you most of all to my doctors and nurses who figured out the situation and administered my treatment.

You all got me through this, and I am eternally grateful.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. My next scan is January 7th. Let’s hope 2026 is full of more memories, laughs, music, bug-free code, travel, climbing, and incredible moments with friends and family. Everyday is a gift.

Love,
— John