Friday, 12/17 -- A day at the hospital.

Today was an interesting day.

My back pain this morning was the same, so I called the oncologist's office to see what they thought. After a brief discussion of symptoms, they scheduled an emergency MRI for my spine. Another one of those "How soon can you get here" deals.

We ate some eggs that Lyn prepared on our Le Creuset omelet pan. Delicious.

The MRI is the one where they lay you in a very narrow tube and make a lot of noise. It can be claustrophobic in there, so they give you a little squeezy signaling device to hold in your hand. If you panic, give it a squeeze. It's your way of saying, "GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

Luckily, I'm not a sufferer of claustrophobia.

The doctor looked at the results and concluded that I did NOT have a cord compression. That was the worst case scenario. I don't have that.

My bones are still in a weakened state from the chemo and disease. It's easier than I thought for me to hurt myself by doing something stupid like lift a 5 gallon bucket of water.

It's very possible that I have a muscle pull along with a slight compression fracture in my SPINE. Let me repeat that, a slight compression fracture in my SPINE.

For the next couple days, I have to take it very easy. These things heal themselves. I have some new goofballs to take if I am in a lot of pain, otherwise I just have to treat it like a bad back.

That's great news.
I was very scared.
I was afraid that the cancer was coming back and causing my spine to be weakened. I thought that I was going to be paralyzed, or unable to otherwise move. I was afraid of more morphine, more tests, more chemo and more time hospitalized.

I was crying like a little girl. That's how scared I was.

I have cancer hypochondria. Every pimple, every mosquito bite, every pocket of gas, every muscle twitch, every coughing fit, every sore tummy and every headache is CANCER until proven otherwise.

I can't wait till this is all over and I can have a decent hangover in peace.