Eric Binnion

  • Statistics are meant to be beaten

    After finding out that I have stage 4 esophageal cancer, one of the first things that I did was to get an idea of what the survival rate is.

    Surprise. It’s about 15%. #winning

    It’s easy to look at that number and get depressed. But, the reality is that, at this granularity of a statistic, that one can find some room for improvement if you position yourself for it.

    For me, this is looking like:

    • Relocating to Houston to go to MD Anderson, a hospital ranked as the #1 cancer center in the USA.
    • Getting very involved with my care team by asking questions not hesitating to share side effects or issues.
    • Staying in Houston until we “stabilize” and figure out the treatment plan that I can then transfer my routine treatment.

    It’s not always easy to keep moving forward in the face of poor statistics. Especially when my doctor is writing clinical notes like this 😄 :

    GOAL OF CARE: prolongation of life

    Performance Status: 1

    Social Support: excellent

    Patient speaks English: yes

    Interpreter used: no

    Patient was here with his wife and daughter

    But, we’ll continue to position for the best outcomes and then do the work.

  • Sara playing with the puppies in Houston ❤️

  • I caught up with Oli while I was down here in Houston. The last time that I would’ve seen him in person was in 2024 when we were here for Ember’s birth.

  • What Started as a Cough

    Just over a month ago, I went to San Francisco for a work trip.

    I had a lingering cough, but after talking with my primary care physician and going to the clinic twice in January, I did not think I was contagious.

    When I arrived in San Francisco, I noticed I was short of breath walking from the terminal to the Uber pickup area. For a moment, I wondered whether I would have made the trip if I had known I would feel that way in the airport. But I was there, and I figured I could visit a clinic if it got worse.

    I made it through the workdays relatively well. What changed things were a couple of nights where I had coughing fits and then coughed up a small amount of blood.

    To be clear, it was mostly mucus streaked with blood, not a large amount. I decided it did not require urgent care, but when I spoke with my wife, she insisted that I see my primary care physician as soon as I got back from San Francisco.

    So, I scheduled the appointment with my primary care physician for the next morning. The earliest I could get was 9:30am. I was coming in from San Francisco at 6am. So, I figured that I’d get to the doctor’s office and then take a nap in the truck.

    After I saw my primary care physician, he sent me to the emergency room for labs and an endoscopy.

    Within a few hours of arriving at the emergency room, after they’d done the endoscopy, I was told that I most likely had stage III or IV esophageal cancer. In addition to tumors in my esophagus, imaging showed lung nodules and pleural effusions, suggesting that the cancer had spread to my lungs.

    The past month has been a whirlwind of tests, decisions, and rapid changes.

    Within two days of finding out that I likely had cancer, my wife, our baby, and I moved to Houston so I could begin treatment at MD Anderson.

    I now have three implants: an inferior vena cava filter to reduce the risk from blood clots, a port for chemotherapy to reduce the number of IV sticks I need, and a pleural catheter so we can drain the fluid on my left side.

    I start chemotherapy and targeted therapy on Thursday. It will be a long road, but we have a plan.

    I’m deeply grateful for the support my family and I have already received from family, friends, and coworkers, and for the support we will continue to receive in the months ahead.

  • Family time in NYC

    I was recently in NYC, from the 5th-16th, for an AI enablement program that our company was doing. I had the weekend free, so we flew the family up to hang out in NYC for a couple of days with me.

  • I saw this poster at a martial parts business in NOHO.

  • Sneaking around the Christmas gifts

    Sara sent me this photo of Ember the earlier today.

    Ember had crawled from the kitchen over to the Christmas tree and was getting into the gifts.

  • Jiu Jitsu with Hero

    Hero and I recently started going for Jiu Jitsu at Dynamic Martial Arts Academy in Wichita Falls. I think that I’ve maybe had 6 classes so far and it’s been fun and challenging.

    This photo is of Hero and I from this past Thursday night.

  • I needed to replace a couple of fuses on Christmas lights today, so I had Ember help me.

  • I went by Great Clips a few days ago and Destiny gave me a haircut for the first time while in an actual place of business.

  • Small Family Day in San Francisco

    On the tail end of some recent work travel, I flew Sara and Ember out to meet in San Francisco so that we could spend the day together.

    We ended up having a really nice Friday together with visiting the Golden Gate Bridge, stopping in Sausalito, and then visiting Muir Woods.

  • Ready for Trick or Treaters

    This was Ember’s second Halloween, but I think the first one that she could maybe enjoy. 😄

    She was dressed up as a shark and stayed out with us a for a bit while we handed out candy.

  • I got this photo of Ember while at Terry Black’s BBQ in Austin earlier this week.

  • Ember got upgraded to business on her way home from Austin earlier this week.

  • San Antonio Zoo for World Spina Bifida Day

    This coming week I’ll be in Austin for work. So, when the opportunity came up to see some of our friends and go to the zoo for World Spina Bifida day, we made a little trip out of it.

  • Ember Fall Photos

    We took Ember to the pumpkin patch last weekend to get photos of her. I was told ~30 minutes before that I would also be in the photos. But, that’s how we ended up with this cute photo.

  • Day Trip to Austin for BBQ

    I left the house yesterday at about 5:15am to drive from Wichita Falls, TX to Austin, TX to go hang out and get some BBQ with coworkers that were in Austin for classes.

    We left shortly after I arrived in Austin, around 10:15am, to go queue at Franklin’s.

    After 2 hours, we’d successful received our BBQ, and everyone was pleasantly surprised. Which I was glad to hear after I’d been talking up how Austin BBQ ruined brisket back home for me. 😂

    A highlight of the trip was that one of the group reminded me of a message I’d sent over 3 years before about that I’d take him for BBQ the next time he came to Texas.

  • Solve in Specifics

    In a recent conversation with one of my teams, they shared that they often felt left out when changes were made. Their view was that we needed a culture shift to ensure their functional area was considered.

    Culture matters. But it’s also big, fuzzy, and not something you “fix” overnight.

    But, what we can do is zoom in on concrete examples and solve them one by one.

    When I asked for a specific instance, they pointed to teams shipping breaking changes without respecting their area of the product. That’s a simple problem to solve with something like CODEOWNERS or a CI check.

    Small wins add up.

  • We got a walker for Ember to help teach her how to walk, though we hadn’t got to using it yet since her therapy is focused on the standing frame and electrical stimulation primarily.

    But, we took a few minutes this weekend and sat her in the walker to see how she did.

  • Weekends are to catch up on time with the kids. Like this moment where Ember rolled around in her clothes while I hung up mine and Sara’s clothes.