Treatment Days 4 & 5...30 to go

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It might have been the chemo.

But it was probably the surgery, anesthesia, and pain medicine.

Before Friday, Jen had never seen me in a hospital gown, I had never been under anesthesia, and I had never had narcotic pain killers. That is a lot of firsts and the results were probably predictable.

I spend Saturday falling asleep randomly throughout the day with no real recollection of what happened. That continued until noon Sunday. When I was finally able to shake that off and start moving around things got a little better.

Monday morning I met with the Speech Therapist. Why a Speech Therapist? They help you maintain the muscles and mechanics necessary to swallow effectively as the muscles and tissue in your throat deteriorates during radiation. It was an extremely informative session and the exercises really seam to help. The complexity of the human body and the machine (tongue, throat, esophagus) that works in concert, allowing you to swallow, is amazing.

Radiation Day 4 was a breeze. The mask isn't bothering me too much and the treatments go by fast. The team at my radiation oncologist is fantastic.

I managed a pretty full day of work on Tuesday and Radiation #5.

ONE week down, six to go.

Side Effects Update

I don't think I have any real nausea from the chemo...yet.
Food taste - I guess I would say, ' Raapidly. Almost every thing I put in my mouth has a metallic tinge. Water taste milky. Some foods sound great then when I smell and bite into them are terrible. It will be a journey to keep finding foods that I can tolerate.
Dry mouth - not severe yet but I can feel it beginning. When I talk for a couple of minutes it gets pretty dry. I am drinking enough water to offset the effect most of the time but it can be a little tough in long meetings.
Fatigue - Worse than I expected. I have need naps the last two days after radiation to get through the day. If I didn't nap I would probably have to head to bead around 10pm. I suspect naps will be a necessity through most of the treatment.
Neck pain - This was unexpected. The platform I am on while getting radiation has a head rest. It has two points that should go on each side of your neck. Due to my physiology (big head?) it hits me on the bones at the base of my skull. It seemed to go away after the first few treatments. It seems to be persisting between visits now. I will talk the nurses to see if there is anything to do differently.