Recovery Week 1: What Recovery?

Much like the economy, experts say we are in recovery. But also like the economy, it doesn't feel like we're in a recovery. It seems to me that a recovery would bring reduced pain. Diminished mucous. Improved taste. Less fatigue. But none of these are in evidence.

A typical day goes like this:

• Get up, take the dog for a walk, feed, nap for an hour or two.
• Get up, take some medication, cough up a lung.
• Feed, nap for an hour or two.
• Get up, play a game on the iPad or watch some TV.
• Feed, nap for an hour or two.
• Wait for me to come home or finish work.
• Feed, take the dog for a walk, whisper out a conversation.
• Prepare for bed: Take some medication, cough up the other lung, string out the oxygen, put on the bite guard.
• Sleep.

I know—we are the ultimate party animals!

But now the blog is starting to sound like The Scallion, so let's get on with the update.

This week he had a one-week posttreatment appointment with the radiation oncologist. She said she was surprised (but pleased) that he hadn't lost any weight over the previous week. Most people do, without the radiation staff harping on it all the time. I said, "Most people don't live with Atilla the Hun." We smiled at each other, and she laughed. She said he looked great and that he really came through the treatment like a trouper and that he should just keep doing what he's been doing.

He mentioned how disappointed he was that he wasn't feeling even one iota better, and she just gave him that "I just cured you of cancer, you ungrateful pig" look and said, "Yeah."

The one thing she said that was super encouraging was that she believes this treatment did the trick. That when he goes in for his PET scan in two months and three weeks, she expects it to be clear. No cancer. No surgery indicated. No additional treatments. That was fantastic news.

So this week, he sees the NotChemo oncologist for a "routine" follow-up, and then I think the next thing will be the PET scan. Oh, I know what you're thinking. "Won't the next thing be getting his feeding tube out?" Oh, no, my dear readers. The radiation oncologist said she thought it would be four to six months yet that he'd be on the tube. Eventually his taste will return, yes, and he'll start eating again. But he will need to be off the tube 100 percent (that is, getting no sustenance through the tube at all) for two weeks—with no weight loss. When that happens, he will be able to get the tube out. That was not fantastic news.

The cancer giveth, and the cancer taketh away.