I was home alone every day with a deadly disease ravaging my body and trying to take my life from me. My children were in school, my disabled parents were unable to visit me, my wife was at work – providing me the insurance that was saving my life, my brother was working every day, and my sister was living in Europe. Every day I would wake up, drive myself to my radiation treatments, then...
I am a cancer survivor. In August 2008 I was diagnosed with Head and Neck cancer, and an incredible and grueling journey began. A journey that included surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, depression, fatigue, hopelessness, anger, despair, and a forced view of my mortality. It was also a journey of hope, love, compassion, understanding, and renewed vigor for life. When death comes knocking at...
When I first learned I had cancer, I started this blog. It has garnered enormous interest, tens of thousands of views, and many cancer fighters have expressed interest and gratitude for it. I was re-reading my blog today and realized that there are a lot of blanks in the diary – I left out things that I didn’t understand, or were afraid to discuss., So I will go, post-by-post, and...
If there were a content on the most popular search terms that land results on Binarybiker.com. the term “lip cancer” would be the clear winner – with over seven (7) times the hit relevancy than any other term. This is my SEO claim to fame: lip cancer. Apparently, many people with mouth sores, fever blisters, infections, or herpes are scared that they have cancer and somehow...
On September 11, 2001 a group of determined terrorists shocked, horrified, and angered the nation by killing over 2,000 people on our own soil. America found out that where we thought we were safest, we were vulnerable. We learned that where we thought ourselves strong, we were weak. It was a critical blow to our national self-image, pride, esteem, and suddenly and abruptly ended our days of...
Set your way-back machine to early 1986. I was sixteen-years-old and I had mononucleosis. I was a skinny runt of a kid who lost way too much weight from his sickness. My mom went up to the local video store, 16,000 Movies, and spent an hour telling the owner about her son. About how great he was and how he wanted to work there so badly (I did – all the hot girls worked there) and how I...
I had my six-month PET scans this morning. If these scans come back clean, I will officially be two years into remission. I am, as you can imagine, terribly anxious to get the results. I should get a call from my doctor’s office tomorrow with the result. Until then, I will be one big bundle of anxiety. The scans almost didn’t happen. My cancer treatments have always been managed...
We pretend we have control over things all the time. We do it so often that we don’t even think about it. We don’t worry about getting in a fatal car accident because we can control the outcome through our habits and the protective gear we buy, right? We don’t stress overmuch about choking on our food because, if we chew our food well enough the food will be much less likely...
My gall bladder is functioning at only 3%. This is apparently not uncommon for someone who went through chemotherapy and lost so much weight so quickly. The extreme punishment my body endured through cancer treatments was not without consequence. My gall bladder was damaged and has since deteriorated. Lovely. Let me start from the beginning. I like spicy food. A lot. To that end, we have a...
I flew to Washington, DC today. Again. It’s what I do. Working for Hooah, I get the opportunity to fly up here a couple of times each month. I work with my clients, my team, and enjoy a town I love dearly. This week, I am lucky enough that my lovely wife, Carey, is able to join me. We barely made the shuttle from the terminal to the rental car counter at DCA. The shuttle was full, but...
Ron Sparks is a technology professional, science fiction and fantasy author and poet living in Zurich, Switzerland. His latest book "ONI: Satellite Earth Series Book 1" is available on Amazon.com.