Which boob wrote this:

Okay you have cancer. What's next?


 If you've made it this far, great. We're still putting this whole thing together so here are a few things to know.

  • It's half-assed. I have other things to do, it turns out. Is the layout what I really want? No, but it's just not where I plan to spend my time.
  • It takes a village. A giant thank you to Laura and Sarah for helping me conceive of ways to communicate broadly, Anna for the idea of a blog in general, Anna again for helping write this and Kelly for original art that she came up with on a moment's notice when I texted her with a nebulous idea ("can you draw....like...boobs?"). And to everyone else who cares enough that makes the blog even necessary.
  • The tone of this blog is going to be me. If you are not okay with me approaching breast cancer with humor, maybe stop reading now. Expect inappropriate boob puns wherever possible.
And if you've made it this far, you may have questions, so here's what I have so far:

Yes, I feel totally fine. If you saw the how we got here posts, you'll know I only found out about the cancer because of routine screening. I don't feel sick. I am a bit sore from straps training yesterday, but that's probably not related. 

Treatment: I had a biopsy but have nothing re: treatment. I go in next week.

I can tell you the following.

I have a hormone-receptor+ tumor. These are the easiest breast-cancer tumors to treat with the best outcomes. My postdoc work was in endocrinology so I have at least a reasonable handle on the techniques, lingo, and basics here. But Kris, you say, you studied frogs. And you're right, but the endocrine system is one that is pretty conserved across vertebrates so what I learned in my little green friends applies generally here. That said, I never studied breast cancer in frogs...ahem.

I have been assigned a care team and they are all women (Woohoo!) and they all seem pretty kick ass. 

I have insurance, and it seems good.

I have incredible support around me.

I will need surgery, but beyond that things remain unclear. Aerial friends, I've already got a long list of questions for my surgical team about getting back in the air (#priorities).

I may ignore emails and texts. If I do, it's not you. I'll read them, but may not reply. Or I may reply much much later. 

Generally though, I'm good, Stephen is good, and I'm just getting shit done while I still have full use of my arms and my (let's face it) great boobs.