It's called "Retracing". Where you get a shadow of the same symptoms you had on the way down. This time you're going up so you will pass through some of those same symptoms. Retracing.

It's no where near as bad coming up as it was going down. But never the less still percievable and does make you wonder. Am I really getting well???

Yes you are, it's just another one of those little things you have to learn along the way.

Retracing. What would happen to me is certain thoughts of times and places in my past would just pop into my mind. I'd think "Where is that coming from?" "That was years ago". It was the time and place I picked up the poisons that were being released by my body on its journey back to health.

Old injuries would "turn on", hurt like hell for a while and go away. Emotional states would "turn on" run their course and "turn off".

After I understood what was going on I kinda looked forward to where I was going today. I made a game out of it.

Some of it wasn't too nice, the war stuff. Because it was more than the Agent Orange. One of the first things you experience in the third world is the filth they live in. And it stinks. Not your nornmal stink either, very offensive. Plus the firebases had a specific stink to them. As the medic one of my jobs was to burn the human waste with diesel fuel. A very distinct odor that comes back out on the way up. Plus the explosives, gun powder, bug killer, and all kinds of weird smells that don't exist in this country. All that came out of me and the memories of the times and places I was at when they went in came with them. Retracing.

One of the more pleasant things was the cologne I used to wear in college. To this day I'll get a whiff of that stuff every now and then. But a lot of good memories from college days so I don't mind that one.

But yeah, retracing. Physical, mental and emotional. Can't hurt you though. They're just a shadow of the things you went through on the way down. Coming up now though. That's a good thing.

Doc