How can it be December?!

I feel like Rip Van Winkle. When I went into the hospital, there were green leaves on the trees, the latest poll had George Allen up over Jim Webb by several percentage points, the decorations in the stores had a Hallowe'en theme...

Tomorrow, Advent begins. How I wish I could observe Advent with my worshiping community. I miss you all so much!

These next weeks and months are uncharted waters for me. I'm making it up as I go along, emotionally and physically. I haven't taken time to mourn for my father, because I've been needing to spend so much energy on my own recovery. But there are times when that bubbles to the surface. And I've already learned what one of the Physical Therapists told me in the hospital -- that, physically, my recovery will not be a straight-line progression, with each day better than the first. Two days ago was a good day. Accompanied by my rolling oxygen tank, Patty and I even walked about 200 yards on the street in front of our house. Whoo Hoo!! But then, yesterday I was a limp as a dishrag. I spent all day yesterday in my pajamas, parked in the La-Z-Boy. After that day of rest, I feel more energy today. I'm washed and dressed! (Again, that whole process took about an hour, and feels like a great physical accomplishment!)

I lost 20 pounds during those weeks in the hospital. My waistline is the same -- so those lost pounds were muscle mass. My poor atrophied bicycling calves and thighs!

Some have been asking: was the initial diagnosis of sarcoidosis bad doctoring? Of course, that was a question Patty and I have asked. And we have asked a number of the doctors involved in my case. Here's my conclusion: the pulmonologists here did the best they could with the resources we have here in Williamsburg. At our little community hospital, all they could do was a bronchoscopy (sp?), and that appeared to be all I needed. As it turns out, what I needed was a lung biopsy. In hindsight, it would have been good for me to be referred earlier for that. But at our hospital here, there is no chest surgeon. Thank God the pulmonologist here was open to help when he was contacted by the doctor in Norfolk who was observing the monitor of the Williamsburg ICU. One lesson I have taken for myself from these horrible weeks is that our local hospital is fine for routine maladies, for joint replacements, for cancer treatment. For more difficult cases, we're best taking advantage of the hospitals connected with medical schools -- Sentara Nofolk General or MCV in Richmond. Just my opinion.

I'm going to rest for a few hours. Then maybe I can get out for a little walk! Whoo hoo!