Apple Juice

I did it! I actually took in a couple of swallows of apple juice yesterday and again today. Diane tells me I will continue with this regimen before I try another form of liquid. My stomach hasn't had anything but "product" since April 22nd so it is important for my tummy to get used to "regular" drinks. Obviously, I am light years away from having a Diet Coke.

Since I was a teenager, I have looked in the mirror weekly to get rid of the usual acne that comes with being a teenager. Low and behold, a side effect of radiation/chemo is I currently have no blackheads, no acne, no pimples. I'm not so sure if this is really a good trade off for cancer. Yes, I am. I'll take a pimple any day.

The weather has been beautiful; consequently, I can often be seen from 5:45 to 6:15 a.m. or so walking Adams Street from Sherman Hall to Lafayette Street looking for loose change and revellers from the night before. Occasionally I even make it around the square. Then it is home for some product and a two-hour nap. Can you imagine waking up at 5 a.m. and going back to bed at 7 a.m. and actually sleeping. That is my world today.

Also, I generally lay down again from about 11:30 to 3 p.m. while ingesting 3 more cans of product. I find it hard to believe that Gordy Taylor goes to bed at 9:30, wakes up at 5, goes back to bed at 7, wakes up at 9, lays back in bed from 11:30 to 3 EVERY SINGLE DAY. Oh, yea, it's starting to get to me but maybe that's a sign that I'm getting better.

My voice is stronger even though not up to par, and my weight seems to be stabilized at 163-165 based on my manic commitment to 7 cans of product every 24 hours. My lowest point of weight was 157--the increase has helped me gain strength.

Product is not without its negatives. For you parents out there, it smells like strong Enfamil formula. I go to sleep at night with two cans very slowly going into my feeding tube and the other night I woke at 2 a.m. sopping wet. I thought I wet my pants until I discovered the connector from the electric dispenser to PEG had become disconnected. Well, what good news! I hadn't wet my pants at all but rather was laying there in a pool of product. I was a good soldier and didn't wake up Diane in the next bedroom. I'm sure I was quite a visual as I stood there in a dim light, stark naked, stripping my bed of soaked pillow cases, fitted sheet, flat sheet, and of course mattress pad cover. I assembled the bedding at the end of the hall and went back to bed cuddled up in the down comforter that had been spared the "big spill." Clean up could wait until morning.

Thanks again to all of you for your continued support in so many ways. As a matter of fact, good buddy Larry Preo sent an email today reminding me to thank a vet for the many freedoms we all enjoy. We are out the door to go to the Square to buy a new American flag for our home. Happy Fourth of July!