In December, I had my semi-annual brain MRI, which came back clear. Earlier this month, I had my quarterly body scan, and after a 10-day wait, the results came back: stable.

These scans have become a part of my life, and thankfully they’ve gotten easier. I’m trusting a bit more now that the strange ailments I feel throughout my body are just part of regular life, and not the first sign of my impending death. It also helps that I’m not symptomatic. I work out and run more than most 40-year-olds who don’t have lung cancer.

After these scans, I decided that I’m ready to move forward with surgery.

I’ve scheduled it for April with Dr. Velotta, a thoracic surgeon in Northern California. I trust him. He’s done multiple Stage IV post-TKI lobectomies. He and I have been having this conversation for about a year and a half. We met in person this past July when he came to the ALK Positive Summit.

I’m optimistic about the surgery. It will be great to finally have pathology back from the primary tumor. He’ll be removing my lower left lobe, which collapsed when I was first diagnosed because of my pleural effusion and now has permanent damage. He will also be removing multiple lymph nodes and taking a biopsy of my pleura.

I was originally very hesitant to have this surgery because of the risk of needing a pneumonectomy. But Dr. Velotta has continued to monitor my scans, has seen my primary tumor continue to shrink, and now feels the risk is under 5%. To take extra precautions, he’ll be doing the surgery open rather than minimally invasive. I’d rather have a longer recovery time and get to keep my upper left lobe.

This is the latest chapter in my ongoing story of living with lung cancer.

Outside of cancer, I became a Genentech ambassador (the pharmaceutical company that makes my targeted treatment) and did a video shoot in December about my story and the medicine I’m on. The video should be completed this spring. It was a lot of fun being on set and being considered “the talent.” I really enjoy the speeches and the different advocacy opportunities this journey has given me.

Work for Chris and me is busy and chaotic—but also a lot of fun. We joined the ShoreHomes team, led by my colleagues Justin Shore and Nick Teslik. I’ve never worked on a team that I wasn’t leading. Justin and Nick are in the top 15 agents in our company of 2,500 agents. On my own, I’ve consistently been in the top 3–5%, but Nick and Justin operate at another level. I’m learning a lot, and Chris is being trained by them, which is fantastic for him and for our marriage.

We are both working incredibly hard right now. I think this will be a great year for us in business.

Jack, who is truly God’s gift to me as my stepson, continues to make us proud and shine. He’s on the frosh/soph soccer team and was called up to the JV team this past week—and did fantastic. He still has straight A’s, including in his AP Human Geography class and his 11th-grade math class.

He is happy and that is so important for a teenage boy. He even told me recently that he understands why his dad made him move and that he’s happy about it. I was so worried this move would be the thing he’d end up in lifelong therapy over, but he’s really doing great.

Benny and James are doing great too. James has picked up potty training pretty well. Benny now knows all his letters—I think he might have a photographic memory. They are both happy 3-year-olds.

So that’s the latest update. Grateful for it all, as usual.