Lungs and Friends

Well, friends come first, and I will write about them, but I know a lot of you are waiting for an update on my lungs and hospital stay--so I'll fill you in briefly.

I was in the hospital until Wednesday night. This was a shorter stay than I'd expected, because on Monday, when the surgeons poked around in my chest, they discovered a tumor blocking the bronchus in the right lung. This meant they did not want to (could not?) do pleurodesis to that lung, but instead decided to do something else, like ablate the tumor with a laser, after New Year. I have to say, knowing the difficulty of recovering from pleurodesis to one lung, that I can't imagine what recovering from two such procedures would be like.

For two days after I got home, I could barely get out of bed. My big adventure on Friday was to walk (once) from my bedroom to the den and the study and back to the bedroom. Anyone who's been on my second floor knows that amounts to maybe a hundred feet. And just motivating myself to do something as simple as put on a clean pair of underpants already set out on my bed took about an hour.

I think, looking back, that some of this had to do with lingering effects of anesthetic, but some also had to do with energy. Finally on Saturday I was able to take a bath and go downstairs. (Down wasn't the problem; the question was could I get back up.) I just stayed down for an hour or so, but yesterday (Sunday) I spent pretty much the entire day downstairs, entertaining a succession of friends who'd come with food, or to shovel snow, or to bring an article about Big Bend, or to do laundry, or to chat. I went upstairs five or six times during the day, and by the last few trips, could go up without stopping to rest. So I'm definitely getting stronger, but very slowly.

Tomorrow's goal is to actually leave the house. I'm still hoping to be getting on a train to LA on the 23rd, but I'm not going to make the final decision until Thursday afternoon, when I have an "after hospitalization" follow-up appointment with the oncologist.

Now, about my remarkable community of friends and neighbors. Obviously, without help, I would have been stuck in bed with no food for 48 hours. Although I'd left the back door unlocked so people could come in even if I was upstairs, the long driveway was snowy and slushy, hard to navigate. I had a lot of dirty clothes--the washer is in the basement, and since my dryer is broken, wet clothes have to be hung on lines. (It's so dry here in the winter that even heavy towels dry overnight.) You get the idea.

Well, the list of people who just figured out what needed to be done, and jumped in to do it, is very long: led by Janet, my next door neighbor Bridget, and Diane, but including many more--Liz, Dave and Kim K, David T, Tracy, Dennis, Robin and Will, Catherine, Jesse Lee, Sandy. And I'm terribly afraid I'm leaving someone (or more than one) out. The farther back I try to remember, the harder it is--effects of anesthesia, I think.

What I can't forget, fortunately, is the truly spectacular book party last Sunday. It was such a warm and wonderful gathering of friends and fans, including several people who were instrumental (whether or not they knew it) to the writing of Facing Fear. Friends had followed my sister Susie's request to bring an amaryllis on her behalf, and they found what has to be the tallest and most flower-full plant in the city of Madison. It's still blooming in my bedroom, after keeping me company at the hospital for half a week.

The memory of the party warmed me through the week, and will continue to buoy my spirits forever. And so will my gratitude to the wonderful people who are helping me get through this difficult time. Thanks so much to everyone!