Tim Holbrook

Hard to believe it has been a year…and what a year-drs. not agreeing, surgery, setbacks, radiation. Now done except hormones. I’m 20lbs heavier from lymphedema & physically will never be the same. But I’m here.

I spent most of last week in my favorite city-Budapest-with a day trip to Eger. Post-radiation celebration. Food for my soul…and stomach!

First bike ride into my law school office today since the end of September. I was slower, but I'm getting back to it!

Radiation is done! 6.5 weeks, 5 days/week 33 sessions. Hard to explain my emotions—joy, relief, thankfulness all rolled into one. Because hormone therapy has been successful, we don’t know yet if there is “no evidence of disease” (remission). Hormones 6-12 more months, & then we keep a watchful eye.

Last substantive day of class for the semester. (I have a review session on Nov. 19). I pre-scheduled makeup classes in the event I couldn’t teach due to my treatments. Fortunately that didn’t happen! It was a great Introduction to IP class!

AM bike ride-great for mental and physical health. Radiation is starting to cause some fatigue and GI issues….

First radiation treatment done. Now only 30ish more! Five days a week until November 20.

I would hope the governor would follow the decision, or else we would fast reach a constitutional crisis.

Supreme Court to decide if Colorado’s law banning conversion therapy violates free speech If conversion therapy is deemed speech, then bans on it likely will fall.

SCOTUS will hear Chiles v. Salazar, addressing whether CO's ban on conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ minors violates the First Amendment's free speech protections. My commentary is here: theconversation.com/supreme-cour...

I’ve opted to have radiation now instead of waiting and seeing if my cancer returns after I end hormone therapy. 5 days a week from Oct. 6-Nov. 20. 30 min. I’ll stay on hormones until mid-2026. We are in the mountains to relax and see the leaves this weekend. A nice respite before treatment begins.

Getting back in biking shape!

I was supposed to be arriving on the Outer Banks to join my family on vacation today. Thanks Hurricane Erin! Instead, I did a 40 mile bike ride and felt great! Plenty of my favorite flowers along the path. 🌻

First ride into the law school for the new academic year … and post-surgery. I also have a new office with west facing views!

Reunion with my Chicago volleyball friends for Market Days! We live all over the country now, and my heart is full getting to spend time with these amazing people! ❤️

More safaris shots…so many animals up close! We closed out in Johannesburg and went to the Apartheid Museum and the Cradle of Humankind museum. Heading home tonight.

Spent the last 2.5 weeks in Southern Africa. Cape Town, Celebrated our 20th anniversary at the Cape of Good Hope, Victoria Falls, and safaris in Zimbabwe and Botswana. Amazing! Even saw two leopards and two giraffes mating!

My hair is thinning & falling out. My body continues to change from surgery & hormone therapy. Today is a tough day. Then I tell myself, “bitch, you’ve got cancer!” This body is doing everything it can to survive cancer. Embrace & celebrate every “flaw”! Ellen Bass’s poem capture’s this experience.

A few days in Durango with my college roommate and dear friend.

Biden's prostate cancer diagnosis hit me given my own. While to see the educational component in the reporting, I thought it was antiseptic & did not capture what it really is to go through these treatments. I discuss my experience in my latest op-ed for US News: www.usnews.com/opinion/arti...

Thanks!!! The Air Supply event was so much fun!

A week ago, my catheter came out. The previous two setbacks arose about a week after the catheter came out. My walk started with anxiety attacks fueled by hot flashes. I grabbed a coffee, stood by the river, & walked to a place of gratefulness and optimism that it will be different this time.

Cutting HIV aid means undercutting US foreign and economic interests − Nigeria shows the human costs Withdrawing or reducing aid has immediate and often fatal effects − not only for the countries receiving aid but for people around the globe.

Cutting HIV aid means undercutting US foreign and economic interests − Nigeria shows the human costs
theconversation.com/cutting-hiv-...

We had so much fun at the Air Supply concert last night! Sound check, Q&A, meet and greet…and then we were on stage for the first three songs! 🫠 They sound great and couldn’t have been nicer. We were smiling ear-to-ear the entire night!

The leak healed and the catheter is out!

I’ll be wrapped in bubble wrap for the next month. 🤪🤣 (Nothing more than walking for four weeks).

A few shots from my beautiful niece’s wedding.

Update: I felt fluid building in my abdomen on Friday & we went to the ER on Saturday. Likely another internal bladder leak. Fortunately we went before there was pain. Catheter is back in until Friday of next week at the earliest if a scan confirms the hole healed. #cancersucks

I am catheter free! The leak healed up, and the catheter came out Thursday. I shouldn’t need radiation in the fall. I’ll finish my surgery recovery and be on hormones for 8-12 mos. Then we’ll know if I’m in remission. This should start a less chaotic period for us. Some normalcy will be nice!

My op-ed is now up at US News. I explain how my cancer diagnosis made even more salient to me the increasing threat to marriage equality that we currently face, with nine states introducing resolutions urging that Obergefell be overruled by the Supreme Court.
www.usnews.com/opinion/arti...

Hormone therapy is making my facial hair lighten and fall out, so I decided to go clean-shaven for the first time since 2018. Namon has filed a missing persons report for my chin. 🤣 Photos: today, a few weeks ago when side effect was kicking in, and before hormone therapy.

Discharged and home, sweet, home. And a catheter for (at least) two weeks. 🫠 But I no longer feel like I have a knife in my stomach!