Agreed. There is no better suit than the classic, and at least they're in continuity. The current suit is good (strangely I almost like the Rebirth suit better in some ways?), but Superman having the classic again would be great and, imo, fitting. And make no mistake: every bit of that suit is iconic. Not that I couldn't live with what we have... but it'll never be #1.
As for the storyline (forgive me, I skipped some pages of this thread)... if it's Lex with cancer, what if we're looking at the wrong way. What if Lex has cancer and Superman is the only one who can operate before it gets worse... but it's in a tricky part of the brain. Lex recovers but there are things he can't remember, largely his time as a hero. He blames Superman, thinking he did it on purpose, and away we go.