Hi friends,

For the last month, Jason has been dealing with headaches. We had reasonable non-cancer explanations for them, but they got worse when we were in Vegas, and he started experiencing extreme fatigue too. We came home a day early (Sunday evening) and got him straight to the ER (at North Austin Medical Center).

They admitted him, and Monday, he had an MRI that shows likely leptomeningeal disease (LMD). This is when cancer enters the cerebrospinal fluid that flows through the brain and spine. In his case, they're seeing evidence of the LMD affecting his brain but not his spine. While we're waiting on pathology results (from a lumbar puncture) to confirm the diagnosis, everything is pointing in that direction.

I'll be honest: this is a really, really tough diagnosis to get, and it indicates that his cancer has become highly aggressive and advanced.

He's still in the hospital, dealing with pain and fatigue. We're working to get on top of these symptoms, and he's doing a little better than yesterday. He just now got another lumbar puncture, which we hope will further relieve some of the pressure.

Thankfully, we have an excellent care team, and we're making decisions based on input from three local oncologists (medical, radiology, and neurological), his MD Anderson oncologist, and a neurologist at Cornell who specializes in LMD. I can't tell you how much I appreciate how available they've all been as we head into this holiday weekend.

Here's our plan, subject to change:

• A shunt. This is a device that will be surgically implanted to allow the cerebrospinal fluid to drain out of his brain more effectively. We're trying to get this done while he's in the hospital, and we have high hopes that it will provide a lot of symptom relief.
• Whole-brain radiation to target the cancer. I don't have a timeline on this, but I expect we'll be starting soon.

We expect Jason to be discharged sometime this weekend.

Our first goal is to get him feeling well enough to fully participate in our vow renewal on December 9, even if we need to adjust what that looks like (shorter event, etc.).

My parents are in town, keeping things going on the home front. We may have a meal calendar at some point after Thanksgiving, but before all this happened, we ordered a full Thanksgiving meal from a barbecue place. We will have plenty of food for the holiday.

We don't need anything in terms of provisions—really! If you particularly want to do something, we can always use gift cards for Uber Eats, GrubHub, or DoorDash, sent to carolbethanderson@gmail.com.

If you're a praying person, here are some specific points to pray for:

• That Jason will feel good for the vow renewal
• That the treatment will be as effective as possible
• For our whole family as we go through this

We so appreciate your support, and as we have more ways for you all to help us, I'll be in touch.

Before I go, here's a picture of us in Vegas, about to go to Gordon Ramsey Steak. We managed to make some good memories there!

-Beth and Jason

You're always welcome to look at past emails here. Just be aware this site includes my author and narrator newsletters as well as my emails about Jason; I can't split them up!