Lyrical: The Inter-Chemo Normal (and Lull)

Things are going to get quiet around here, I think, because, we've got about 7 days coming up where not much is expected to happen, except:

• The neck lump is changing shape, which I take as proof that it is shrinking at a time when shrinking is otherwise hard to notice.  Day-to-day, spanning my lump with my fingers like I'm sizing up a half lime for Mexican/Margaritas, it is very hard to say "that's smaller" but pretty easy to say "it has never felt quite that shape before."
• The hip pain is less frequent but does pop up--unsurprising if the gut's tumor is shrinking at about the same rate as the neck's.
• Nagging nausea makes it tough to think about eating. We were gifted some glorious fresh-caught Striped Bass last night--enough for 8 entrees--which Mrs Blogger grilled. Fresh last night it was fabulous (everything from tongue to brain is in heaven eating it) .  Cold in a portion-controlled tupperware it still tastes great, but everything from neck to gut is saying "eat nothing"
• I have to eat like it is my job. Like a 2/3rds-scale Big 10 football player in training. Eating like a job means meals are portion-controlled and *must* be eaten, long after my body says "stop." My job is to maintain a healthy weight, no less than 175lbs (that's the "2/3rds scale" part), so that nausea-driven weight loss can be postponed until later or indefinitely.
• Exercising needs to be consistent with muscle-preservation My fear that I'd have to stop swimming was unfounded (it is more limiting that, in Boston, outdoor pool season is just June 20s to August 20s). I'd feared that needle-pocked arms, immune/infection vulnerability, or chemo side effects would keep me out of the pool. I needn't have: I did return to swimming 8 x 50m butterfly this morning. And note, that this is  harder than it sounds because there's no diving into a 4' deep municipal pool during lap swim. You gotta kick/push he whole way.
• We'll pull together all the medical records at some point, resolved to put "my case" in front of the second opinion team at Dana-Farber Cancer Center (just down the street from my first opinion doctor).

Beyond that, this weekend is a drive to Chautauqua NY, and exciting mix of the Perseid Meteor viewing (tonight, from along I-88), the Corning Museum of Glass (tomorrow), and seeing Daughter 2 dancing and fetch her home.