Return of the Killer App(etite)

My appetite is back, as of yesterday, in full force and just in time to keep me from disappearing entirely. Yesterday I ate everything that wasn't nailed down or couldn't move fast enough to escape. And we finally went out, a week late, for Nancy's Valentine's dinner. We went to Wimpy's in Osterville, a restaurant/pub that specializes in seafood. Nancy loves seafood and doesn't get to eat it very often (she forgot to ask me if I like seafood before she agreed to marry me - bad move). I had prime rib, rare, and (drumroll, please) an ice cold draft! It's the first beer I've had, except for a few sips snuck from my son when I wasn't being watched, since last summer. And I survived, the final proof that my stomach problems of the last eight months were in fact due to the lymphoma in my chest compressing my esophagus and the vagus nerves to my stomach, and not to my favorite foods like coffee, chocolate, peanut butter, tomatoes and the occasional beer, all of which I have avoided since early last summer. Since the start of chemotherapy (the first treatment, I was told to my surprise, killed most, perhaps up to 90%, of the cancer cells; the remaining treatments are to get the rest) I have noticed an easing of the nasty symptoms of stomach upset and shooting pains up and down my back. I've been slowly adding back forbidden foods to my diet, without ill effect. The beer was the final test, and I passed with flying colors. Which is to say I feel fine this morning. Can't stop eating, in fact. So far I've had a bagel with cream cheese and avocado, coffee, orange juice, V-8 juice, an apple, and a dish of delicious vanilla bean coconut milk ice-cream. And now, at 9AM, I'm starving.

The fever is gone as of yesterday, responding to the antibiotic as expected. Supposedly the fevers are not caused by the chemo but are due to an infection of unknown (so far) origin. So tomorrow it's back to Boston for more tests to see if they can solve the mystery. The good news is that leaves my hair loss as the only real side effect of my chemo so far. I'll take it.