Mike Experiences The Internet

Author: Michael

  • Troubles, Troubles Everywhere

    You should have had your tonsils taken out as a kid. As a adult, having them taken out now is “hell on earth”. – Our Discharge Nurse

    We are now one work week into her recovery from a second biopsy, and a multitude of other procedures. I guess if there’s a silver lining to all of this, it’s that the doctor found what is presumably the cancer source … which is the left tonsil specifically. This is good news, because this allows the cancer to be properly staged (as far as we know, we’re still at a Tx N2 M0 staging, but expect this to change in the next 10ish days). The bad news is that she’s been on leave since last Wednesday, and will be on leave until 31st October.

    I’m used to my routine being something like wake up at 7:30 and help with her work computer, once she actually starts work I can begin my day, which on a normal day is around 9 or 10am. But lately, troubles have started to pile up in nearly all aspects of my life. Between the always-present money troubles, I’m now experiencing a issue with my primary monitor; and on top of everything else … our car is now having fuel issues. All of this happening at one time is overwhelming, in the sense of prioritization.

    This week, we meet our oncology team; and find out her treatment regimen and schedule.

  • Horology and Biopsies

    You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. – Wayne Gretzky

    After our recent appointment with the doctor, and on the way home; we discussed not only the biopsy appointment (which is at 7am local time tomorrow as of 2:30pm EDT on October 14th, 2025), but also the horology program at Rolex.

    I know what you’re thinking … you’re talking about watches whenever your wife is having a procedure done?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!

    To my credit, I did find out about the Rolex Watchmaker Training Center prior to the cancer diagnosis; via notable YouTube creator (and watch boutique owner) Teddy Baldassare posting a video about American watchmakers being in short supply; and that Rolex was trying to step in and help fill that void … and that their training center was close to home. And come to find out, so is the training center for the Swatch group.

    Let me explain. We live near Tyler, Texas; a town of about 105,000 … and the Dallas-Ft. Worth metropolitan area is about 90 minutes away from our apartment. It just so happens that Rolex has a service center in Dallas; and the Swatch group service center is in Ft. Worth. Both programs are extremely competitive in their admissions process; with less than 50 persons accepted into their respective programs yearly. Where the programs deviate from each other is that with the Rolex program, you are guaranteed employment with a above average yearly salary at one of their ADs (short term for Authorized Dealer), but with the Swatch program you earn a industry-wide certification that can find you employment at any establishment that services watches, not just Rolex dealers and boutiques.

    (If any of my tech friends are reading, the differences between the two would be akin to learning how to repair Apple devices in the case of Rolex, and Android devices in the case of Swatch).

    I am going to try to apply for the Rolex program, confident that I can get through the admissions process and become a student.

  • The Gaming Complex

    As a further slimming down of hobbies (in a attempt to save money), I’ve decided to take a deeper look at my largest “hobby”; which is console and PC gaming. To provide further context, when I have life issues going on and am having a bad day; I can normally load up a game and escape into it’s content until I get pulled away to do something else.

    Over the years, I’ve spent a considerable amount of money on not only games; but game consoles and parts for my PC in it’s various iterations; to which the amount I’ve spent over the course of my working life would easily amount to the cost of a new car. When a new gaming console is announced, my wife shakes her head because she knows at some point I’ll ask to buy it.

    So what do you do when presented with the unique situation of wanting to be able to play Game X with friends; yet want to save money? Amongst one group of friends, I’m the one most likely to buy multiple copies of a single game.

    Before our diagnosis, I would get chewed on a frequent basis out over spending too much money on games; and we would sometimes get into some pretty sticky situations over this. Now, I normally will buy one game at the beginning of the month; and only buying more than one after everything is taken care of and we have spare money at the end of the month. (Side note: I suffer from mental health issues, which can sometimes manifest in episodes of mania; which leads to the excessive spending).

    It also helps that I have largely reduced the amount of systems that I will buy for, from four to two. It also largely depends on the genre of game, for example, the first person shooter genre; I’ll typically buy those on PC to play because I have a decent PC to use; and the user experience will generally be better. Everything else, I’ll typically buy for console; prioritizing Nintendo consoles.

    Now about the sheer amount of games that are coming out on a monthly basis …

  • The Community Principle

    You are only as strong as the people around you.

    Being a proud member of Gen X provides clarity on things sometimes, especially when it involves community. The people around you that interact daily in your life can either bring the mood up; or bring the mood down.

    So what do you do when you primarily have family as IRL friends? A lot of like-minded peers have turned to online communities/social groups, full of individuals just like me. I am a part of a lot of communities that run the proverbial spectrum of things I enjoy.

    I don’t like having to pick and choose who I hang out with, but it’s crystal clear that with our recent diagnosis; I will have to figure out who I continue hanging out with, and who I stop hanging out with. I no longer have the disposable funds to continue pursuing all the hobbies I enjoy, and we all have to start somewhere right?

    Then there is the issue of finding a support group for caregivers …

  • The Cancer Problem


    600,000 people a year die from cancer in it’s various forms. It does not care about your family, your socioeconomic status; or how much money you have. It affects everyone from young kids and babies, to the elderly.

    This is our story.

    Estimated national expenditures for cancer care in the United States in 2020 were $208.9 billion. In future years, costs are likely to increase as the population ages and more people have cancer. Costs are also likely to increase as new, and often more expensive, treatments are adopted as standards of care.

    We (my wife and I) would be considered middle-class folks. We try to live within our means, but that has changed. We received our diagnosis today, that my wife has cancer. It is extremely hard to process this, even with a significant amount of time beforehand to prepare.

    We do not know how much time she has left currently (this blog entry is being written the night before our appointment with the oncologist), and will be updated at some point tomorrow, October 7th with that information.

    “I’m stronger than cancer. I’ve been through hell and back, and I’m still here.”