It has been 24 days since my first surgery, and my second surgery is scheduled 25 days from now. Candidly, I am dismayed by how weak I find myself. Yesterday, I had lunch at my apartment with my brother, Bill, who drove up from Virginia to see me, and I was so exhausted afterwards that I had to take a nap. Today, I went out to a local restaurant for lunch with a friend and got so tired that I developed an upper back spasm, which thwarted my plan to be driven out this afternoon to Belmont Park to see my two-year-old colt, Backslider. Backslider arrived from Kentucky two days ago to be prepared for his racing debut on July 23 at Belmont Park.
It is amazing how fast, and to what extent, a sequence of cancer, chemotherapy, surgery, and an infection can debilitate one's body. Since the surgery, I have lost nine pounds, and I would not be surprised if all of the weight lost has been in the form of muscle. At least the post-surgical swelling of my abdomen has receded enough so that I was able to wear a pair of trousers when I went out to lunch today that I was wearing before the surgery.
I need to get much stronger over the next 25 days before undergoing the second surgery. In the meantime, I will try to husband my strength enough to enable me to go out to Belmont in the next couple of days to see Backslider. After I had to cancel my visit today, my trainer, Christophe Clement, very kindly sent me these two photographs of Backslider. Obviously, Backslider is still growing, as his hindquarters are higher than his withers. But he looks strong, and my guess is that he will mature into a grand-looking colt.
