Finding the Answer

   "So how are you doing?  How is your health?"  This is a question that is bound to come at me frequently as school is starting up again soon.
   "Good and improving every day."  I think this will have to be my company line soon because I want to move on with my life.  This question is not unlike the one asked to a traveler who has just spent ten months living in a foreign country and experiencing all of the adventure associated with that setting.  Or like someone who has just been on a long backpacking trip with all of its frustrations and triumphs.  Or like someone who has just been through insufferable grief of some kind.  It is so difficult to adequately convey how impactful these experiences really are.
   "So, how are you doing?  How was it all?"  Honestly, there is no way to adequately answer such a question because the person asking has such a limited frame of reference.  While I might appreciate a person's willingness to inquire, there is no way for one to wade into the life-changing experience I have undergone.  This cancer thing has been a key player in every decision I have made since October.  There is no way to explain all that I have been through and how I have changed.  "Good and improving every day."  This just may have to suffice for a while.
   We all just have to keep moving.  While I understand that for a while I will be the guy who had cancer, I hope this is not my identifying mark of distinction for too long.  I don't want to be defined in that way.  I want to have other characteristics attached to who I am and what I do and who I am becoming.  Cancer will definitely have a place in my private and personal list of "Most Influential Lifetime Experiences," but it is not the first item on that list, nor is it the most important.
   So, how am I doing?  I am doing well.  My stamina is slowly returning.  I wish this happened a little more quickly.  I walked about five miles yesterday with my family along the beach at Ludington State Park and I was tired -- really tired -- at the end of the day.  I was stiff and sore when I woke up this morning, but have since loosened up.  In a few days I am expecting to receive the official go-ahead from my transplant team to start school on August 28.  I cannot imagine them telling me I am not ready.  I feel ready.  I am still a light-weight; fifteen more pounds would get me back to normal. The appetite for food is returning but some things still have some weird associated tastes that remind me all is not quite normal yet -- ice cream, sweets, cheese, coffee, and beer may or may not ever give my taste buds the same pleasure they did a year ago.
   But how am I doing?   Honestly, I am good...and improving every day.  Thanks for asking.