About Adventures With Recursive Functions
This blog provides updates on Rob Rex’s crazy health journey (Spoiler Alert – it is the most aggressive form of brain cancer – a glioblastoma) but also touches on a little bit of everything about me and my thoughts. It is part therapy, part emotional and mental outlet, and part something to keep my mind off what promise to be some pretty unpleasant medical experiences. Need Help Getting Started?
Recent Posts
Unwanted Guest Post
When Rob started this blog he made it abundantly clear that he would solely be responsible for all content; while he gave me editing rights, I was certainly not to use them. However, everything happened so fast – too fast – so I’ve been left with no other option than to break the rules and…
I Might Be Allergic to Weekend Plans
I was all set to post a nice little positive update in the middle of last week but for the second time in the last month I had too much fun planning out a beautiful fall weekend filled with friends, kids games, and maybe even a little golf (watching) and life reminded me – again…
Treatment Update & 10 Things I Like and Don’t Like
I’m a sucker for a gimmick column—Dave Letterman’s Top 10 lists, Power Rankings, Jimmy Kimmel’s Mean Tweets, etc. One of my favorite sportswriters, Zach Lowe, does a weekly ’10 Things I Like and Don’t Like,’ which perfectly encapsulates the gimmick column. Enough structure to keep the column organized and moving, but enough freedom hit what…
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back & An Analytical Approach to Treatment
Thursday, October 15th started out as my best day in quite a while. The blood clots that have slowed my recovery are receding through the recommended treatment of elevation, heat, and activity. Just lots of short walks around the house and my driveway and cul-de-sac. I spent a lot of the morning getting organized to…
Hat Game Set to 11
Not nearly as many words needed for this one – with the road ahead I am going to get to experiment with some new hairstyles and stepping up my hat game has become a priority. With the help of a few world-class models here is my current line-up – I need more ideas!
Pathology is Back
The Great Weight has a ‘name’ and a ‘grade.’ This is good. Or would be, if it wasn’t the one that we had been hoping to avoid. My tumor is officially a Grade 4 Glioma, called a glioblastoma, which is the most aggressive brain cancer out there. With the feedback that Dr. Weingart provided throughout…
Life on Cell Block N(euro)
The last 48 hours in rehab were crazy, so I am a little late on this post. I am home now – this is about how I spent the last 2 weeks. This post is long because there is a lot I want to remember. Jump right to the Olympiad at the bottom for the…
Downs and Ups and a Trip Home!
I am a huge fan of a piece of advice pulled from semi-popular 80s one-hit-wonder Baz Luhrmann. I quote it often and my inlaws and wife – descendants from a long line of born preparers and worriers – have always thought I was crazy. Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying…
Team Rex & LFG
Now, THESE are fun posts to write. I’ve cried more in the last 20 days than I have in the last 20 years – and it is not close. The first few days were some little leaks, mostly driven by shock. Then the surgery, recovery days, and uncertainty got the best of me for a…
The Great Weight – or – The Meeting That Wasn’t
The first thing Dr. Weingart said when he saw my MRI was ‘that thing needs to come out.’ There is no biopsy or pre-work. You just get the surgery as soon as you can, and they send a piece of the tumor to the lab for diagnosis. In the ~70% of cases where the tumor…
Visitor List – A sanity train
COVID rules are a real problem for hospitals these days. Shocking, I know. In John’s Hopkin’s Jenn could join me till 6pm the day of the surgery but I was on my own Wednesday evening through Friday evening when I transferred out to Sinai for rehab. at Sinai: I get one visitor per day which…
The Quick Update
Wow, really? You just want to jump to… OK. Let’s do this. Who, What, Where, When, Why. Who – Rob Rex, that’s who I am a 41-year-old marketing professional and entrepreneur that up until ~2 weeks before the launch of this blog was enjoying a nice quiet life in suburban Severna Park Maryland with my…
Hi, I’m Rob Rex, and I’m a fall Risk – A Rehab & Body Update
In this post I’ll provide an update on what I am going through physically from surgery through the first 10 days of recovery. There is a lot going on so I’ll add sister post shortly that covers more of what life is like in the facility
Surgery and The Aftermath – A Story in 4 Parts
1) Surgery – The Good Part I really cannot say enough positive things about Johns Hopkins, and Dr. Weingart. My prep and surgery were handled in the Zayed Pavilion at Johns Hopkins and incredibly well run, spare no expense, highly staffed neurosurgery experience where I really don’t think I encountered anyone who had been doing…
A Truly Pleasant Lull in our Harrowing Adventure
The time between the meeting with Dr. Weingart, where we came up with the surgery plan and answered all the questions to the evening before my surgery on the 23rd was a pretty chill and fantastic time. I had some hard conversations sharing the news with folks, and there were a lot of tears and emotions involved. Still, the groundswell of support very quickly became strong in the best and most genuine way, and my body responded to the steroids that Dr. Weingart prescribed to prepare me for the surgery.
The Hot Streak Continues – This Time With Seizures
Waking up that Thursday morning the 17th, if you had asked me if I had ever had a seizure my answer would have been no. Three hours later I learned that wasn’t really the case. The morning progressed pretty calmly, getting ready for the meeting with Dr. Weingart. Maybe I did a little too much…
A Music Video a Day for Kate & Tay
I love music videos and have for years. I get sucked into rabbit holes watching them and and can not stop myself from dancing along even as I watch the same one for the 3rd straight time. While I’ve been away for all this extra time restricted by COVID rules I have been trying to…
And So I Had Back Surgery – Almost
I came into Tuesday September 22nd expecting this to be the last day of preparation for my back surgery at 6 AM Wednesday. The problem was that the other issues with my body had been mounting and there was something that just didn’t feel right about this being up early a pinched nerve in my…
It All Started With Some Lower Back Problems
I have had lower back problems for years. Ten years ago they flared up once every couple of years. And over the last few years as I’ve entered by 40s they have flared up a little more often – maybe once or twice per year. But they have always been manageable and I’ve always known…
Navigating Recursive Thoughts
A giant hole in my head, COVID rules, and potentially a couple of marbles I lost along the way before this crazy adventure even started leave me wanting to hit a lot of topics. But this is not a book, so read what you want. There are 3 types of content Adventure Log – updates…