Monday, June 08, 2015

Left turn at Albuquerque

First, an update on my health. I reviewed the latest CT scan with Dr. Whoosh on Thursday. For the first time he showed me a copy of the images and pointed out the mass in my right lung. I had obtained copies of the scans myself and looked at them, but wasn't exactly sure what I was looking at. Now I have a better handle on what I'm seeing. The mass in my lower right lung is still growing at a slow pace. Although there was some dramatic shrinkage after I first started the oral therapy, the trend has reversed and the cancer is growing back. It's now slightly larger than it was when I first started the treatment. No changes to the therapy yet. I'm tolerating the medication very well and it does seem to be retarding the cancer growth somewhat. There are only a limited number of drugs that will work on this thing and they don't want to exhaust all their resources too quickly. Plus I might not tolerate the other medications as well. The fewer side effects the better.

Following the visit to Dr. Whoosh,  I took a weekend trip to see my cousin in West Chicago and pick up the wheelchair I bought on Ebay. The trip took a bit longer than it should have since I misread a map and got lost in Indianapolis for about 45 minutes. I also made the mistake of waiting too long to stop for the night in Champaign, IL.  Instead of stopping at one of the nice places we passed on I-74 W, I decided to wait until I made the turn on I-57 N to look for a hotel. Big mistake. I-57 north of Champaign is a black hole. The first sign we saw advertized a Microtel. The exit had absolutely no street lighting of any kind and the signage was pitiful. Lost in the dark, it took me fifteen minutes just to find my way back to the interstate. I never did see the hotel. The next exit at Rantoul offered a Day's Inn. We stayed there out of desperation. I requested a non-smoking room. What I should have requested was a non-smelly room. There was a definite odor of mold and mildew with a hint of chlorine from the indoor pool. I can cross "stay overnight in a crappy hotel in Rantoul, Illinois" off my bucket list.

We spent the next two nights in my cousin's beautiful home being wined and dined. A very pleasant stay to say the least. Terrific pork chops on the grill, all the coffee you could drink, a wonderful breakfast...hmm it seems I'm obsessing about the food. Well, it was good. I don't recall ever seeing a four-poster bed quite as tall as the one in her guest bedroom though. Thankfully she provided a stool to help climb into the bed. The top of the mattress was literally chest high. I also knocked one of the balls off the top of the finials when I leaned on it. It had been broken once before, but still I should have been more careful. Sorry, Alyce.

The wheelchair fits in the trunk of my car, but it fills  it up completely and is a bit difficult to load and unload. I'm going to need to do some work on the wheels. It doesn't roll as easily as it should. Perhaps some lube on the hubs or maybe new bearings. I haven't had a chance to take a really good look at the problem yet.

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