Hey guys, just trying to lessen Joe’s worries a bit while he journeys through uncharted territory. He is very concerned about missing work and six weeks of recovering. He is mostly concerned about the follow-up visits and hotel stays while we try to keep up with life.

Our oldest children just married and will be moving out at the same time. Great new beginnings for them with a little more dip in our budgets

Earlier this year, he had gone in for a lump in his armpit which, long story short, turned into five benign tumors. They are called a Schwannoma in his nerve sheath that runs from his chin down through his left armpit. The Mayo Clinic doctor has never seen such large strings of them together, but he is confident in his ability to try and remove them. He has asked if he can write an article due to the rarity of the uncommon size and length. It is not cancer, thankfully, but will still be a very large surgery with a very long recovery, and we don’t know what will happen until he is in there removing them. He will try to get as much out as he can without nerve damage.

we have been to Mayo four times and countless conversations to plan this but the date has arrived. August 25 he will begin surgery and then a road to recovery.