Health update: With the PEG out, I used a recumbent exercise bike this morning for 15 minutes, and my blood oxygen stayed up at 92-94%! (That's good! To give some perspective, when I went to the doctor in late October because I "wasn't feeling good," they rushed me to the hospital because my blood oxygen was in the 70s.)

And -- with the PEG out, I took a shower for the first time since October 26, 2006! May I be forgiven a bit of wastefulness? I confess that I stood under that water for several minutes, just luxuriating in it! A hot shower is, indeed, a luxury -- one of many, many daily luxuries that we middle and upper-class Americans simply take for granted.