A Long, Strange Trip -- with a Rest Stop

Well, well, well... things are starting to settle a bit:

My dry cough is pretty much gone -- replaced by an occasional "wet" cough, which is to be expected if one is recovering from pneumonia. (If that, in fact, was what was going on with me in Jennersville. I'm starting to wonder... Reading the X-Ray and CT scan reports, it surprises me that I don't see any mention of a pneumonia situation in either report. But maybe that's to be expected. How would I know? I'm just a passenger on this particular trip -- albeit a front-seat passenger. I'll ask the lung doc on Friday -- as described below.)

The antibiotics are a thing of the past and either:
(A) they worked and I feel much better or
(B) they had no effect on my illness but I feel better anyway.
But in either case, I feel much better. And the diarrhea that the antibiotics did cause is almost completely gone. At least now, I don't have to make sure I'm within sprinting distance of a bathroom at all times.

And people that I know and love dearly have been so supportive -- and their wishes and prayers are almost palpable. I know people who, when they are ill, do what they can to keep their condition a secret rather than letting their friends and family know. And I feel sorry for them, that they've decided to isolate themselves from such a powerful source of healing and strength. Yes, it takes a village to raise a child, but when do we truly stop being children in this context? My hunch is never...

I had an MRI on my head (Including my brain! I'd like to say it tickled, but it didn't.) and neck areas late last week, and everything came back normal. Further proof that the cancer has not returned locally.

Deb and I visited my chemo doc yesterday, and we talked extensively about the CT scan from Jennersville. He's dubious that a CT lung scan of someone who is suffering from pneumonia can give a totally accurate picture of what's going on. He supports our upcoming visit to a lung doc on Friday, and expects that he/she might well have us wait another couple of weeks to let my lungs return to a condition as normal as possible before any further investigation takes place.

He also suggested (this is important! pay attention!) that the cancer I had has a reputation of recurring locally, but not so much metasticizing elsewhere. So he's looking askance at the notion that the thing in my lung is another tumor. (Pretty cool, yeah?)

I then got a phone call from my E/N/T doc -- who left a message on our home phone -- asking what was going on, and would I please call him on his cell phone? Oh yes! So we talked for 5 or 10 minutes, and he seems to share the scepticism of my chemo doc: there's no reason yet to assume that the inclusion in my lung is cancerous. And then, he all but implored me to call him on his cell phone whenever I wanted to talk something over. I mean, geez!!

You know how, when you've pulled the car over into a rest stop off of I-95 or other major thoroughfare, got out of the car, filled it with gas, visited the bathroom, picked up a snack and/or some coffee, walked around for a while -- you know how you can wind up feeling totally refreshed and ready to hit the highway again? And that you've decided that life is good and that you're one lucky person to be who you are and where you are?

Well, that's how I feel right now. Let's hit the highway!