Long Time, No Post

Well, it's just about three weeks since the great RPLND took place, and I am slowly matriculating into the normal world again. The trip is not without occasional bumps and stutters: I had a sneezing fit last night and thought I was surely going to die, as I know my stomach had ripped open and my insides spilled out.

I've transitioned from Vicodin to Ultracet so that I'm OK to drive again, and I drove to my Board of Directors meeting on Saturday. It was a local trip, and the meeting lasted about 4 hours, which I seemed to tolerate well.

I got Dr. Foster's notes from the operations and confirmed what I had suspected - they had to severe a bundle of nerves that were tied up with the tumor, so I have a bit of nerve damage in my left thigh. Not sure if this is permanent; others who have been in a similar situation say that the tingling will go away after a couple of years, but that's just anecdotal evidence.

I had another one of the church RNs come by and pull the staples and apply the Steri-Strips. The incision is healing nicely, although when I went to the cancer box this morning for blood tests one of the nurses who obviously has a scab fetish picked off a bunch of my scabs. OW!!! Supposedly it will make for a nicer looking scar, but with as much chest hair as I have (and it is coming back with a vengeance), pretty soon you won't be able to see a scar anyway. I'll try soaking in a bath tonight to get the rest of the steri-strips and scabs off, hopefully in a less painful fashion.

I head back to Indiana next month for a follow up visit, then the rest of my care should be handled locally from then on. I'll have regular blood tests and x-rays, as well as the occasional CT to make sure that no teratoma comes back (so I get to keep on chugging those berry-flavored, yet earthy, barium shakes - whoopee).

I had Sarah shuttle me around this afternoon to pick up various medical records so I can put together a packet for the FAA and get my butt back into the air (naturally, the club plane is in the shop due to a little fender-bender, so there won't be any flying happening for the next couple of months anyway).

That's the way things are right now. I'll check back in a few weeks, unless anything new pops up.