The latest developments:
1) Dad's blood tests reveal the cancer has returned aggressively and he will be undergoing another scan on Wednesday and then we're likely back to the chemo. He ended up in the hospital over the weekend when he did his fire department physical and his heart rate was twice the normal rate. He finally admitted to ordering and taking one of those online "energy booster" medications (this is why we have spam, people). I'll say, the product has four different variations of caffeine and other stimulants. It might as well be speed. No wonder the heart rate shot up. It's stuff like this that give people strokes. Folks need to stop ordering these supplements over the Internet. They may be labeled innocently enough, but any stimulant product like this carries the major risk of heart rate increases into the danger level. He's learned his lesson.
2) I am still fighting off the Xmas eve cold, which deteriorated into bronchitis and sinusitis, and I learned today after sitting in the doctor's office for several hours that I have a very mild form of pneumonia - walking pneumonia (oh boy - who knew walking would cause that... heh). It's not that big of a deal, and I've been given a special inhaler and got some additional meds to take. The primary symptom, which reminds me of last year, is that my voice is shot and is usually near-gone after 20 minutes. Also, my mouth is very dry all the time, no matter how much water I drink. This is a big nuisance more than anything else.
I feel absolutely fine and normal except for the occasional wheezing, coughing, and a voice that says "Marlboro" was a part of my life, even though I've never smoked a thing in my life.