Back on the Fairway

In more ways than one...

Again, I see that it's been some time since I updated ya'll on Steve's progress. I think that's generally a good sign. There seems a lot less to say when he's getting healthy than when he was so sick. His last chemo was just a month ago today.

It seemed a lot slower this time for him to recover than the first round. Probably only in about the past 10 days or so has he really started to feel significantly better and more like himself.
He'd gotten back down to about 125 pounds but as his appetite has recovered - including an unexpected passion for potato chips (in fact, i hear a bag rustling in the kitchen right now) - he's started to put on some weight. He was up to 138 this past Friday.

A lot of that also has to do with the fact that he's started to work out. He's lifting some weights - perhaps more than he should - and walking on the treadmill every day. For Steve, who has a metabolism like a hummingbird, it's the muscle mass that is the only way he can really put on weight. Now, I, on the other hand, was born without a metabolism. It's a rare and often misunderstood condition :).

Along with the workouts comes more energy. And it's all a nice little circle that comes down to him getting better and better every day.

Today we played golf. It's one of the things we love about living down here - you are just as likely to get a day like this - 65 degrees on February 3 - as you are to get freezing. Considering how little we've played since Steve's diagnosis back in April, we played pretty well. I shot a 90 (courtesy of four pars on the back nine) and Steve shot a 98. Not bad for the early stages of the year.

After golf, we went to Rafferty's - our usual Sunday-after-golf stop for some lunch and then home to crash with the dogs.

Tomorrow, we see the oncologist for a checkup and a blood test. But everything seems to be heading in the right direction and as soon as all the members of our family - Sable and Bogey - are recovered from their surgeries, we're looking to plan a nice vacation -- somewhere we can take the dogs, play golf, relax in the sun and have no worries.

Things seem to be looking up for others in our extended family as well: We were thrilled to get the email the other day about Marilyn taking some steps with a cane. Considering where she was just a year ago, that is a miracle. And one step closer to walking on the beach. Our friend Chuck has recovered pretty well from his cancer surgery and I hope we'll have some enjoyable evenings with him and Nancy now that we are all doing better.

I am hoping for a happy and healthy year for everyone and I think we're getting started on the right foot.