I’m currently in Spokane, WA at an AirBnB with my sister Katy. We’re here for a memorial service for our grandma, which will be happening later today.

Fortunately I did ok with the side effects stuff yesterday, as we drove over here. The main thing I continue to experience is cold sensitivity, so I’m minimizing time outside and making sure to bundle up.

Yesterday was a great day of 1:1 time with my sis. Bright, sunny weather throughout the drive across Washington state; scads of trees looking lovely with yellowing leaves, about to drop.

We stopped at Lunchbox Cafe, in Ellensburg. So good! I was a little worried about eating outside (it was pretty cold) but the sun — along with incredibly delicious tomato soup — kept me nice and toasty.

In other news, I got a Facebook message yesterday that meant a lot to me. It was from a friend from college who saw my “I have cancer” Facebook post in August, in which I urged all my contacts to get screened, and consider some other advice to stay healthy. She said:

Hi Jonathan! I just wanted to share that I finally got proactive about scheduling a colonoscopy because of your journey….Because of you I finally took action into my own hands and called the clinic directly to schedule an exam. I had 5 polyps removed.”

I’m so very happy to get an update like this!

Lot of good discussion with Katy last night; I talked about what a challenge it has been to try and intermittently work during the chemo process. For example; Wed-Thur this past week — days that I worked — were more challenging than I had anticipated. Although not as bad, side effects were still popping up here and there, and I believe these were exacerbated by work stress. I need to further scale back from work during the upcoming final phase of chemo, and I’m thinking through what this will look like.