Hey everybody!    I'm sure anyone reading this is already aware, but in March I had a quite significant sebaceuos carcinoma ( rare, ironically named, and surprisingly aggressive skin cancer) removed from my face, along with a big chunk of my right cheek/nostril.  The surgery was done in two parts just as the lockdown began--they had to remove down the bone, but the margins were tested and were completely clear. Huzzah--I was cancer free, yet again! (Knocking on wood, of course...)  Unfortunately however, as this was already my 2nd occurence of a sebaceuos carcinoma in that same sport, I am at a significant risk for having a recurrence. In fact, sebaceuos carcinoma is so rare (Especially in this location, as it often occurs on the eye lid for some reason, and is even more aggressive there) that there is not really any great data on reccurence rates and the effectiveness of therapies. However, my radiation oncologist, Dr Barker, is known for being as sparing as possible with his therapy recommendations, often recommending that patients do not undergo radiation treatment when he feels it is not justified. My case was also discussed in a conference with the entire department, and based on comparisons to studies of similar cancers and a fairly lengthy pro/con faceoff they decided that the most prudent thing to do was 6 weeks of radiation therapy to make sure any residual carcinoma cells are destroyed.  I will be receiving the minimum effective dosage over the most effective amount of time, but we are splitting the daily dose into two seperate administrations, split by at least 6 hours, in order to minimize the collateral damage of the radiation and reduce the (alread very low)  possibility of triggering a new, seperate cancer in the bone or muscle.   That said,  I am still expected to have some side effects, although interestingly they say it is on approximately a two week delay--the first 2 weeks should be fairly negligible, steadilyworsening throughout the treatment, and then actually continuing to get worse for 2 weeks post-treatment before starting to heal. The actual effects I was told to expect are about what one would imagine--essentially a progressively worsening sun burn, but with less redness and more dry-ness, especially on the interior of my cheek and nose. I will continue to "wear" the stent to prevent my nostril from shrinking..the first interation was simply a chest tube that Dr. Shazad, my plastic surgeon, cut down to size (of prompting a comparison to Apollo 13)..but we have now, due to my mom's suggestion, switched to using a set of inserts for expanding ear piercings, as we can easily increase the size and there are no rough edges etc. Dr. Shazad thanked my mom particularly, as he thought it was a brilliant idea and plans to use it with future patients!    I am actually writing this having just finished my first full week of treatment, so I can speak a bit to the daily experience...although I am saving a more in depth description for a later post!  I have my daily appointments at 7:30 and 1:30, and I am the first and last of the day on this particular machine at the MSK Westchester facility, as they are running a reduced schedule currently for obvious reasons. Having to be there so early, and not being able to come back later in the day, make me even more grateful that we were able to secure 4 weeks at an AirBnB less than 10 minutes away! It took a lot of work, help from my excellent and lovely social worker Chantelle, and three seperate charities, but it really has transformed the experience. I'm also planning to make another post later about the MSK facility and the AirBnB, so stay tuned...     I am still in the process of pursuing further grants, but at the moment we still have 2 weeks of additional hotel at the end that we are having to cover out of pocket, as well as of course all sorts of special creams, salves, supplements etc, all the special dietary  considerations  as my mouth gets worse and makes it more difficult to eat...the expenses add up, and that's not even considering any sort of "mental health/morale" budget, which as we all know is a priority!    Alright! I think that's a pretty good picture of what we're expecting,...   Thank you all so so much for all of your well wishes and support, none of this would be possible without you... <3   Live long and prosper and may the force be with you all, always!   Seb :D