Getting Better....

I am just now recovering from our last trip to Chicago to see the docs there. Our appointment was on Wed. morning, so as we do customarily, we drove up on Tues., arriving at about dinner time. We have been looking for different places to eat, not wanting to necessarily stay with the same chain restaurants we could eat at in Louisville. We found a place that from its web description sounded like a good steakhouse, for those in Louisville think Fifth Quarter. When we got there it was more Ponderosa. We should have left, we didn't, and I relearned a lesson that anyone with a compromised immune system should know. STAY THE BLEEP AWAY FROM SALAD BARS!!! Through all the chemo, radiation, anti-rejection drugs, I don't think I have ever been that sick. When we went to the doctors the next morning, not having slept at all, he walked in and said you don't look so good. My first thought was , wow, you had to go to med school for that? We explained what happened, got scolded for eating "that food that just sits there and rots". He did finally check me out, a task made more difficult by my illness, and found some early signs of Graft vs. Host disease, or GVHD. He said it looked mild, and even continued to lower the dosage of my one remaining ant-rejection drug. He didn't want me back until the end of Sept. so I suppose he's not too worried. So, I guess I won't worry too much either. I'm just glad to be back on solid food!
Deacon John
Feast of St. Rose of Lima
Aug. 23, 2010
St. Peregrine, Pray for Us
Blessed John XXIII, Pray for Us

Pneumonia...

...stinks. But, I saw the doctor Friday, and she said I was doing very well considering it had only been a week. I don't need Oxygen full time any more, and I am feeling stronger. This was a bit of a setback, and it did upset me because I really was starting to feel much better. I am taking it easy, not allowing this to slow progress on recovery anymore than necessary. Hopefully within a week, maybe two, I'll be back to where I was before this episode of pneumonia. I'll admit I was a bit discouraged, but I will not stop fighting. Before I said my brother and his wife gave this whole fight a theme song, Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down." Ive decided to add another song, "No Surrender" by Bruce Springsteen. Even the lyrics seem appropriate. Never back down, never quit, this battle can be won.
Deacon John
18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Aug. 1, 2010
St. Peregrine Pray for Us.
Blessed John XXIII, Pray for Us.