Good Day and Helpful Physical Therapy

Today was as good as last night was bad. I got some rest while Debbie ran a few errands. Pain levels decreased and I was basically pain-free this afternoon.

One new development is that I may have shingles on my back now. This has just developed and is a similar problem to the other neuropathy I have. So, when it rains, it pours!

I will have one final MRI tomorrow and then we get to come home Thursday afternoon. Home will certainly look good, although we could not have asked for better care here.

The lymphoma diagnosis is still preliminary, but the most important thing is to get home, get back to church, and get back to our congregation and community. I
My next post is from home!

Difficult Night, Disappointing News

Last night didn’t go so well. First, the pain medication that worked so well yesterday did not work so well last night. For some reason, my pain is worse lying down, so maybe that’s the reason. But last night I was in a great deal of pain.

I made the mistake of saying I was having chest pain, along with leg and back pain. Before I could explain further I was being given an EKG at 3 am, followed by blood work to check for those enzymes that indicate a heart attack, followed by oxygen. I’ll phrase things differently next time!

This morning, my neurologist explained why we weren’t doing a biopsy — too little chance of getting enough tissue to indicate what’s wrong. I will have a PET scan in a couple of weeks, which apparently zeroes in on cancer cells more effectively than anything else.

Today physical therapy will work with me on walking. Walking, for those who can, is greatly under- appreciated. Now that I’m having difficulty walking, I value mobility a lot more! We’re still waiting for blood work that went to California (at least part of me gets a vacation), so this should be a fairly easy day. Also, I’m getting an additional nerve pain medication and we’ll see how that works today.

I wish I could respond to each email and comment on these posts, but right now I don’t have the energy. But please know that I appreciate each word of encouragement and every prayer on our behalf. Our confidence is in the God of the universe who does all things well.