Ascites, Eating, and Major Manuscript Changes

            Well, my estimate from last week was a little off. Thursday’s paracentesis procedure yielded 2.5 liters of fluid, a sizable step up from the “just under one liter” I had predicted earlier. The important point though is it’s gone, and hopefully won’t come back. Hopefully. So far I feel alright; any fluid that is accumulating hasn’t reached the point where it makes me extremely uncomfortable. I’ll take it. On the whole I’m doing alright. I still struggle to catch my breath, but I’m eating more and more normally and getting a little stronger, I think. It's a strange thing that simply being able to eat a semi-reasonable amount of food again is such a source of happiness, but such is life! It’s slow progress, but at least it’s progress. I can lie down flat with my legs straight, I can eat enough to not lose weight, and I’m able to do more and more every day now.

            After too-long of a break I’m diving back into my writing projects again, now that I finally feel up to it. Chief among my works in progress is a book on faith and cancer, and currently my main goal is is to reorganize a good chunk of the draft I have. The most helpful part of taking a month or two off from writing a book is the fresh perspective you gain on it. I realize now that a couple chapters are a bit redundant, while I omitted a few topics I decided I want to explore. As such there’s a good amount of copying, pasting, deleting, and rewriting to do even before I get to adding the new content I have yet to write. It’s certainly not the easiest book to write, but I’m quite excited about what it is becoming. Part a retelling of my entire cancer treatment and part an exploration through the lens of cancer of timely and significant theological issues, it’ll be—in my biased opinion—a captivating, thought-provoking read. But I’ll let you judge that for yourself, someday…