Viper

True confession...I have never been to Magic Mountain. As a southern Californian, I hear that this is apparently quite a travesty. My high school senior class went on "ditch day" but I missed the bus...kind of on purpose. But all of those death-defying drops and swirls and twirls just held no appeal for me. I have no desire to be suspended upside down in the name of fun.

Which brings me to today. There is this ride at Magic Mtn. called Viper that apparently features the world's tallest vertical loop, two additional loops, a corkscrew and a double barrel bommerang turn. It is not for the faint of heart. But I'm beginning to think I could handle it after the past three weeks. Viper can't hold a candle to this new thrill ride known as lung cancer.

Less than 48 hours after being discharged from the hospital, the nausea and pain are back. A trip to the day hospital got things under control for the time being, but my dad's stomach is so weak and he has no appetite. He's lost 6 more pounds. He hallucinates like I've never seen and his body is so agitated that he twitches while he sleeps. I think this week there will be no choice but to hook him up to a PCA - a personal control assistant (?) that will allow him to push a button whenever he is in pain. Oral meds just aren't doing it. You'd think the doctors would have figured it out by now, but every time he goes in the hospital he starts feeling better and they send him home. Um, perhaps the reason he feels better is because he has access to IV pain control?!?!?!?

The night he got home from the hospital, Dad was so excited that he'd soon be back on the upswing and things would be getting back to normal. But I think the definition of normal has changed. The "ups" are small victories such as him having one lucid hour in an entire day and the "downs" are beginning to be far too frequent.

So bring it on, Viper. You ain't nuthin'.