Singing again after cancer

This is my first post on the new website. In early 2019, I was feeling good about how my band was doing. We were getting decent gigs on a schedule that gave me a solid balance of performing and free-time. The pay was good and I really enjoyed jamming with my friends around Tennessee and Illinois. In September, Jeff Bradley and I were playing a gig in Guanacaste, Costa Rica when I noticed I was constantly fatigued along with experiencing nausea and neck pain. Those symptoms escalated for months until I finally noticed a tumor while playing a gig at the Springwater in Nashville, TN.

Living in Costa Rica by then with Sarah (now my wife), I went to the Beach Side Clinic in Huacas for x-rays and blood tests. I had an ultrasound in Liberia (for a grand total of $75) and a subsequent biopsy in San Jose ($650) that resulted in a full thyroid removal at CIMA Hospital ($16K+/- repaid by insurance). Sarah had friends watch her kids for the several days we were there and she stayed by my side the entire time. Side note: I found out later that my mother's cousin Dennis Thompson had been part of the company that built that project decades before. He'd worked in the construction industry forever. Small world.

After the surgery, which went very well, the nausea immediately stopped. For the first time in months my brain felt like it was firmly planted in my head again and I didn't want to throw up every time I looked down at my phone. The fatigue was still there and gradually improved over the next year and a half, but after physical therapy and medication adjustments back in the States, I am now back to feeling pretty normal. We hit the gym a few times a week and walk even more often which is good.

Feeling better now, I've started to emerge from my pain-induced cocoon. I'm writing again, scheduling studio time and booking shows. Lets see where this goes!