Collecting the Whole Set

I love hockey cards. I’m not even embarrassed to say it. I love buying fresh packs, opening them up, and immediately searching eBay to find how much my cards could be worth. Although I don’t have any Wayne Gretzky or Gordie Howe rookie cards to put into my retirement fund, I do have a few rare cards that could at least fund a nice vacation. However, I have trouble even thinking about parting with them. There certainly is a nostalgia attached to this passion. When I look at my treasures, I think back to the excitement I felt opening up the packs that contained them. I think back to the joy of finding them in all their glory as they emerge from their foil packs. It can take time, patience, and a bit of money to obtain these rare gems which makes it hard to put a dollar value on some of them. Still, that’s not the biggest deterrent for me selling them off; it’s the collection.

Since the hockey card craze of the late 80s/early 90s, I have been obsessed with finding every single card in each set (something that I have never been able to accomplish). It likely stems from the boxes of Score cards my mom would buy from Costco as rewards for completing chores, or from memorizing Bible verses so I could earn Upper Deck packs from my Sunday School teacher. Each new pack was one step closer collecting the whole set. I remember the Eric Lindros rookie card being worth over $100 at one point and I refused to sell mine until I got a double (it only paid my $50 at that time).

I knew if I sold my single, it would take even longer to complete the collection. This tradition has stuck with me throughout the years and although I have completed many base sets, I have still yet to acquire an entire collection.

I have recently started collecting a new set: the cancer series. A few weeks ago, I travelled down to Vancouver for a PET scan just to make sure there was no other cancer hiding anywhere else in my body. I was delighted to get the results stating the tumours had been contained to my rectum and liver. There was an asterix, however. I was notified that a tiny nodule in my thyroid (less than 1 cm in diameter) lit up in the scan. Dr. Proctor (my oncologist) let me know that it did not appear to be suspicious and the risk of it being malignant was very low, but he would be remiss if he didn’t send me for a quick ultrasound*. After a closer look, it was still deemed non-suspicious. The next and final step to rule out another cancer in my body was the biopsy.

Dr. Hollman called me early last week to tell that I basically won the reverse lottery twice in one year.

My poor doctor is one of the best people I have met in my life and she keeps having to deliver bad news. (Dr. Hollman, if you are reading this, I will never hold it against you as your tenacity has provided me the best chance of survival possible.) I have been diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer in my right lobe. Luckily, the new cancer I get to add to the collection is non-aggressive and very treatable. I will eventually need to have my thyroid cut out but in effort to stay on track with my current treatment, we will wait until a surgeon deems the tumours on my liver operable. Perhaps this would be more alarming had it been my first cancer diagnosis but Dr. Hollman and Dr. Proctor have assured me that this is no cause for alarm. I still have not received my genetic testing results back but at this point, it appears that all of my cancers are not hereditary. If I add another one to my collection, I really feel as though I deserve a prize. If anyone has a Mario Lemeiux rookie card they want to trade me…

Overall, I am doing quite well. I am currently sitting through the final round of chemo for this cycle. I have a follow up CT scan scheduled for June 3rd to assess my progress. My appetite is fantastic and although I’ve been told it’s good for me to gain weight, I’m turning into more of a spherical shape than I would like to admit. I weighed in at 88.4 kg today which is the greatest my weight has ever been. It’s pretty amazing what a difference it makes teaching from a laptop for 8-10 hours per day. Thanks, Covid!

The new IV drip I am on (Irinotecan) has made life a lot easier at home as I no longer have to endure the peripheral neuropathy that accompanied the Oxaliplatin. I have been a bit more fatigued that normal but I have been able to get out for a few tennis matches, a couple of runs per week, and a couple of (terribly played) rounds of golf. In fact, my golf swing has probably been the worst chemo side effect so far.

Thank you as always for your love and support. Keep praying that I receive more valuable memorabilia hockey cards than new types of differentiated cells to add to my collections. I am praying for all of you during this time of Covid and hope you are finding solace as we move into phases two and three of reopening BC. Stay safe out there and remember:

Cancer of the rectum can’t wreck Tim! #CantRecTim

*They have been keeping a close eye on that blood clot from the PICC line back in the beginning of my treatment so Dr. Proctor combined the two ultrasounds. As it turns out, my clot had started to extend so he prescribed me blood thinners. For the low price of $50 per poke, I get to stab myself in the belly everyday for the foreseeable future. The silver lining? My rectal bleeding had to stop in order for me to be on blood thinners and since it did, we know the chemo is working. Small prices for large victories!