The “C” Word – Day 96 Turning a corner

After all of the ups and downs of the past weeks and even months, it appears that things have finally turned the corner!

Since the return of taste buds, George is experimenting with the taste of foods and re-introducing them little by little.  On the way home from the hospital we stopped at Carl’s Junior for a Western Bacon Cheeseburger (ah, bacon – the first food he tasted).  Since then we have had burgers, Chinese food, Mexican food and even fried prawns.  Not every taste or texture is back yet but things are slowly improving.

One of my desires and hopes was that George would be well enough to take me out for my birthday.  (Honestly, the first one was for being home on our anniversary – and that did not work out.)  We did go out even though it took a lot of effort for him to do so.  This was the first time we have been out to eat in over six weeks (and is actually also the first time we have gone to a non-medical place in that amount of time as well).  So it was a banner day!!

George is still very weak.  He has lost so much weight over the past six weeks that his shirts all hang very loosely on him.  Once things settle down and he has some energy we will need to make a shopping trip to find clothes that fit him better. 

However, things are doing better than they were a week ago.  The extreme shortness of breath is gone.  The appetite is slowly returning.  The smiles are more frequent.  Slowly things are getting better though it will be quite a while before things reach our “new normal”.  It has been six long, twisty weeks since surgery.  We feel like we have been to heck and back and forth and are so grateful that we seem to be on the downhill side of the battle.  We pray that this continues to be the case.