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Our Houston hosts, Pete and Sally Rasmussen
It is hard to believe it has been over a month since I came to Houston. At the same time, it seems like so long ago.
On September 8, I came down for observation after a temporary obstruction of my digestive system. Many things were uncertain at the time and the doctors were worried about emergency surgery. Now after a successful surgery, recovery, and a round of I.V. chemo, we're headed back to Dallas under far less serious conditions.
This week my surgeon worked on a pain problem I have been having for over a week at the base of my right rib cage. An x-ray showed some fluid in the lung at that spot, but he said that was not uncommon after my surgery and was probably not the source of the pain. The pain is also near the liver tumor, but that is probably not the source of pain as it has shrunk, not enlarged over the past few months. He was concerned it could be a pulmonary embolism (clot) in the lung, so I had a CT Scan, but that turned out to be negative. Bottom line is that the pain remains a mystery, but considering how much my body has been through, they think we should just wait, watch, and hope it goes away. Pretty high tech, huh? Not too far from the two-cent assessment of a non-medical friend of mine - "they opened up your gut and cut a bunch of stuff out, what do you expect?"
Our survival over the past month was made possible by the service of our dear friends, Sally, Pete and Chris Rasmussen. I was deeply moved at how they modeled Christ in sacrificing their lives on our behalf. We invaded their home and life and they were nothing but gracious. Sally became my personal nurse, changing wound dressings, planning meals according to my diet, and shuttling me back and forth from MDACC. Pete and Chris were also always there to help and are driving us back to Dallas today. Since being diagnosed, I have found it to be very difficult to be vulnerable enough to receive help. They made us feel safe doing so.
Posted by Greg at October 18, 2003 08:47 AM | Comments (3)