First comes love, then comes a brain tumor. This is our story: a collection of snapshots and memories of love, brain surgery, cancer and lifeTumblr (3.0; @myhusbandstumor)http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/<iframe width="400" height="225" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oaMo4uXk68Q?wmode=transparent&autohide=1&egm=0&hd=1&iv_load_policy=3&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&showsearch=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br/><br/><p>NOW ARE YOU INTERESTED IN MINNESOTA TOURISM?</p> <p>Couldn’t be prouder to represent our fair state (if you squint real hard, Ralph is about 5 months along here).</p>http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/51147818103http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/51147818103Thu, 23 May 2013 09:01:18 -0500explore minnesotacommercialminnesotanoraborealis    Karen and I have a lot in common: we’re blonde, we have blue eyes, we have loud voices, we...http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/50907037941http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/50907037941Mon, 20 May 2013 09:05:00 -0500CancerKarenEddienoraborealis<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxx4mkwDCU1r8th1fo1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>This human experience feels so big and so tiny all at once.</p>http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/50551357013http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/50551357013Wed, 15 May 2013 22:12:44 -0500quotescarl sagannoraborealisI’m not as strong as you think I am. Or maybe I am. Swinging a 12 lb. baby kettle-bell style while...http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/50430286214http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/50430286214Tue, 14 May 2013 12:39:07 -0500strengthcancerbrain cancerbrain tumorTumor 2.0noraborealislux-fiam: Aaron had a good MRI today. This is how it feels.http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/50025693837http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/50025693837Thu, 09 May 2013 13:34:08 -0500MRICancerhigh fivenoraborealisAre you the same sweet girl I emailed with, or is there yet another young couple going through this...http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/50015337113http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/50015337113Thu, 09 May 2013 10:11:14 -0500Sending you all the same. Your husband is lucky to have you in his corner, and like my man Bob says,...http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/50015275180http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/50015275180Thu, 09 May 2013 10:09:51 -0500Make sure you don’t forget to give her a middle name like my parents did! Also, just know that...http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/50015226543http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/50015226543Thu, 09 May 2013 10:08:47 -0500There’s nothing selfish about you. Not even a little bit. If even one person finds anything of...http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/50015141885http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/50015141885Thu, 09 May 2013 10:06:52 -0500 I love weddings.Not the wedding things; I don&#8217;t care about the favors or tablesettings or...http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/49935913733http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/49935913733Wed, 08 May 2013 10:01:00 -0500lovemarriageweddingsnoraborealis<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/2c405fef9cef841873de8fceeec6dbeb/tumblr_mfx4qw1Q7S1ru9rr9o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Aaron’s brain tumor came back.</p> <p>That wasn’t supposed to happen, even if it was statistically probable.</p> <p>What was supposed to happen was wrapping up his oral chemo in July, throwing a giant party, burning his hospital bracelets and deleting this blog from the Internet and this whole ordeal from our memories.</p> <p>But it came back. Just as a blip on his November MRI, a “spot to watch” but not panic over, a blip so small I mentally dismissed it as a smudge on his doctor’s computer screen (they don’t have retina displays so it’s entirely likely).</p> <p>It wasn’t, of course, and after his next MRI on the 21st of December, we  were shuffled into a different room to meet with the oncologist and the brain surgeon and agree on a plan of action: brain surgery right after the holidays and a more aggressive form of chemotherapy whose description made both of our stomachs turn. </p> <p>You know you work in advertising when you assume that “post-holiday” means sometime in January, and you know your brain surgeon is a serious dude when he literally means the day after Christmas. As in, as soon as he’s done eating dinner with his family, he’s going to bed and waking up to crack your skull open before the sun rises. </p> <p>His brain tumor wasn’t supposed to come back, but it did.</p> <p>But then, this whole thing wasn’t supposed to last past our second date.</p> <p><span>A baby wasn’t supposed to be statistically possible.</span></p> <p><span>Aaron wasn’t supposed to run a 5k less than a week after brain surgery (seriously, I don’t think that was medically advisable but it happened and he had a really good time).</span></p> <p><span>The universe doesn’t care about what is or isn’t supposed to happen, and I realize more each day that we shouldn’t either. </span></p> <p><span>As I write this, our impossible baby is sleeping upstairs. My impossible husband is regaling me with tales from his weekly soccer game. Our stupid dog is asleep on the floor. The first scents of summer are riding on the breeze through our living room.</span></p> <p><span>I don’t know which combination of events led me right to this moment, I just know that t</span><span>here’s no amount of woulds, coulds or shoulds that can change what is.</span></p> <p><span> </span></p> <p><span> </span></p> <p><span> </span></p>http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/49439350348http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/49439350348Thu, 02 May 2013 10:01:22 -0500brain tumortumor 2.0brain surgerycancerlifelovenoraborealisThe internet has brought me a lot of great people. My friend Sebastien, who I met after sending him...http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/48931492813http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/48931492813Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:01:34 -0500MarypenpalsnoraborealisAaron&#8217;s brain tumor has given us a ravenous hunger for life that&#8217;s directly...http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/48612033500http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/48612033500Mon, 22 Apr 2013 09:06:00 -0500lifepost-tumorCancernoraborealisWhen the other option is to be sad and scared and angry, it’s the only sensible choice to...http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/48251795803http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/48251795803Wed, 17 Apr 2013 22:02:51 -0500noraborealis Before all this cancer business, I considered myself pretty healthy. I practiced yoga. I ate fairly...http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/48043010237http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/48043010237Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:01:34 -0500naturalorganicbabyCancerbeautynoraborealis<iframe class="spotify_audio_player" src="https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify%3Atrack%3A26JRni5Lqiyd9GNnlaz6DI&view=coverart" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" width="500" height="580"></iframe><br/><br/><p>On the list of things I despise, reggae music reigns near the top, somewhere between the phrase “date night” and public pajama pants.</p> <p>As a person who can’t stand relaxing, an entire genre of music urging me to chill out does exactly the opposite. With apologies to all the white kids with dreadlocks and to my burnout ex-boyfriends, I’m just not wired for such a carefree lifestyle. Want to see me reach a zen state? Give me a long to-do list and not enough time. Want to see me agitated beyond all reason? Put me on a sunny beach and tell me to take it easy. </p> <p>But because children are their own people with their own opinions, our 11-week-old son can be soothed by this song and only this song. T<span>he first 5 seconds can transform him from an inconsolable urchin to a content little rasta. At bedtime, it lulls him into a peaceful sleep.</span></p> <p><span>I discovered this troubling news during a BYOBaby yoga class, where I bounced around a room with twenty other moms whose babies were undeniably entranced by each note.</span></p> <p>I cried that morning in the yoga studio, overwhelmed by hormones and the sight of so many new humans and the thought that these tender, smiling faces will all face problems in their lives, that their clear, innocent gazes will inevitably be clouded by worry someday. </p> <p>Since that morning, it’s become the most played song on my iTunes, and Aaron and I have arranged several difference vocal stylings during Ralph’s bedtime (he still prefers the original recording).</p> <p>Am I a reggae fan? Heavens, no. But last night, as I heard Aaron singing Ralph to sleep from down the hallway, the poignancy in the repetition of these simple lyrics brought me to my knees. It’s not a song, it’s our family mantra:</p> <p><em>every little thing</em></p> <p><em>is gonna be all right</em></p> <p><em>baby don’t worry</em></p> <p><em>about a thing.</em></p>http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/47704568834http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/47704568834Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:27:20 -0500reggaebob marleyralphmusicnoraborealisIt doesn’t have a name, exactly, but a long time ago his oncologist described his cancer cells...http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/47638304398http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/47638304398Wed, 10 Apr 2013 14:44:16 -0500noraborealis   I didn&#8217;t know what it was at first, this map of mysterious continents shifting beneath the...http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/47541659656http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/47541659656Tue, 09 Apr 2013 10:01:00 -0500brain tumortumor 2.0cancerbrain surgerynoraborealis Our niece and her mother arrived at the tail end of winter, when the snow has turned gray and even...http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/47459007680http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/47459007680Mon, 08 Apr 2013 10:01:11 -0500JosiesnowwinternoraborealisThank you so much for this wonderful note, and for reading.  Wishing you all the health and...http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/47046624768http://myhusbandstumor.tumblr.com/post/47046624768Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:42:08 -0500noraborealis