Sunday, June 1, 2008

Murphy: A Follow Up

We got the results back from the biopsy last week and thankfully, they're negative. But because we didn't drill into the bone to extract marrow, we can only be about 95% certain it's not cancer. Just to be sure, we took another set of x-rays and now all signs point to a micro stress fracture of some sort that's just not detectable.

Thursday, I took Murphy off his pain meds & Rimadyl to see how he's recovering from the biopsy. I'm happy to report he's doing great. He's still expressing slight discomfort, mostly in the morning (who doesn't?) but I feel it's a significant improvement. He's still on the injured list and won't be rejoining us on the road for a few more weeks. We'll keep everyone updated with his progress and re-conditioning.

First of all, I'd like to thank the families who have put us up and put up with us the last month while we've been trying to figure out what was wrong with him: Jamie & Judy, Sam & Pat, Wayne & Bonnie, and Lori & Silas. We couldn't have made it through this without all of you.

Next, I apologize for not blogging sooner - had tried on several occasions but just couldn't find the words. Einstein once said that life is like riding a bicycle - to keep your balance you must keep moving. And that we did - Hudson and I finally finished the stretch to Henderson but it took us 3 and a half days to make just 30 miles or so. Honestly, my legs were leaden, my backpack felt like a boulder, and my heart was heavy. It just wasn't the same without our third teammate and it was equally hard on Hudsy.

One night while we were out on the road, I received a call from Lori. I had left a shirt at their house so Murphy would have my smell with him. She told me that he was carrying it around in his mouth so he could sleep with it. The image of that nearly broke me but it was all of the support, prayers, love, and hope from all of you that kept me going. And for that, I'll always be eternally grateful. On Memorial Day, I wanted to walk by myself while we were waiting for the results and in two days, I closed the 41 miles between Henderson and Marshall.

Only 70 miles remain to the Arkansas border and there's nothing stopping us now.....

2 comments:

LiveWorkDream said...

Yeeeeeeee hawwww!
That is GREAT news, all things considered. We are so glad to hear this, thank you for the update.

We're thinking of you buddy, keep on truckin'.

Anonymous said...

Hey Luke,

Stay strong! Even though we and many of your online followers have never met, you have the support and love of us all. I am so relieved that Murphy is doing so well, and have been checking in daily. I'll continue to keep you in my thoughts, and wish you all a safe and sound journey.