Yep, that's a month of hair and a week of beard growth. And the eyebrows are back! I'm thankful for two out of those three.
I'm a private guy by nature. Heck, my sense of humor is a textbook case of having developed as a shielding mechanism. But it feels silly now that I ever debated keeping quiet on my health situation.
I was already in the middle of treatment when I wrote that post. I remember hitting publish then flopping over onto the bed for a smooth 10 hour nap. The next time I loaded HIF, the comment count had skyrocketed into the hundreds and I was shocked. I actually didn't read them. I didn't even look at them. I was terrified there'd be a heavy dose of negativity (I mean, we're talking about anonymous Internet comments here!) and I was already having enough trouble smiling.
The worst period of all occurred a week later when a perfect storm of side effects culminated. For three straight days, my dog and I lied in bed staring at one another, trying to will the other into venturing out to find food. I finally mustered the energy to get out of bed, but the kitchen felt light years away, so I sat down in front of my computer and loaded the comments.
You punks had me crying within minutes.
And that was it. That was the lowest I ever got and everything from there was an improvement. It sounds corny, but knowing I had thousands of complete strangers out there rooting for me was encouraging in a way I'd never thought possible.
Suddenly I wasn't fighting this damn thing alone! I knew my family and friends had my back, but I never expected in a million years that people I'd never met would care as well. Every corner of the globe seemed to have a vested interest in vanquishing my tumors. I got emails from Canada, India, Ireland, Australia, Japan, and countless others. HIF doesn't even post freebies for those countries!
I wasn't able to reply to everyone individually, but I read and appreciated each and every comment and email.
And I'm thrilled to say that I'm now officially in remission.
I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again, but thank you. Y'all were phenomenal to me throughout this and knowing that I didn't have to post freebies every day was a giant load off my back for a few months. So, again, thank you for the kind words and thoughts and prayers and love and every ounce of goodwill channeled in my direction! It made a huge difference and I'll never forget it.
Now go find some turkey, enjoy the day with family and friends, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!
I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but thanks for all the warm wishes over the past few days. I took a break from working over the holiday, but my phone kept blowing up with comment notifications on Thanksgiving. Not only did they put me in a extra good mood, but they kept extended family from constantly asking “so when are you going to stop playing on the computer and get a ‘real' job?” Seriously, trying to explain how a website works to somebody who still thinks email technology is on par with time travel is never fun. So thank you!
