Tuesday, April 24, 2007

I have really been working on the eating; or as a friend puts it - chewing my soup! Sunday night I did eat my meal of noodles and gravy and also had some salad with ranch dressing! It was nice to get my belly full and not hear the sound of a blender!

Monday morning I got up and made my normal through the tube breakfast of cream of wheat and a cup of apple sauce, but instead of mixing it all together I sat down and ate it with a spoon! Making progress! Once my taste buds come back more it will even be easier!

Lunch was a different story yesterday though. It seemed that no matter what I ate I could not taste. This sucks in ways I cannot even begin to describe. Andrea had made tuna salad and I tried a sandwich even knowing it would be dry but it had zero taste - frustrating. So then I tried a slice of bologna with cheese dipped in ranch (that I tasted before) and still no taste...gave it to the dogs! Gave in and blended up some stew through the tube; major bummer.

Dinner went better for me again as Andrea made a pot roast with potatoes and carrots. Mmmm, mmmm good! Thank God it had some flavor so I was able to eat! Had a bit of everything and it went very well, except I forgot to save room for dessert! I was stuffed!

This morning we had pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon. A bit on the dry side so I had to wash it down with my juice but got another meal in down the neck and not the tube.

My neck is getting better every day. Not sure how long it will be before I can put a tie on again but I am hoping for being able to at least have a collared shirt on in a couple of weeks. My throat is doing really good at this point allowing for most all foods to pass without any pain. I am taking all my meds via the mouth at this point as well. Still routing for the taste buds and saliva to jump into the game with the rest of us - though I have heard I can taste more than most can at this point!

Every day is another day closer back to normalcy.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Two days in a row! Amazing!

We have been experimenting with foods and drinks the past couple of days, see what my taste level is like. Most of the things I have tried are about 40% to 50% of what I remember them to be, so not to bad. I tried some coffee yesterday evening...man has it been a long time! The coffee is about 70% taste wise and was really enjoyable! I limited it to half a cup as the Erbitux still has me a bit on the dry side and we are doing liquids orally at this point. We came up with a cup of water for every half cup of coffee. Sure beats another needle stick at this point!

I have been trying little bites of things like Salisbury Steak, whip cream, banana, what ever may be out. The soft things go down a lot easier than things I have to chew up real good; the throat is still a bit on the sore side. I did eat some scrambled eggs this morning, three bites, not a full breakfast but its a start. They are a bit dry at this point until I start making more saliva. I tried some orange juice - tasted real good - but still have a mucositous sore on the tongue that didn't really appreciate the citrus acid!

Been trying to get out more as the cabin is still closing in! Yesterday went to my buddies house for his son's 21st birthday party. It was nice to get out and see non-medical people. Today we went to see the folks for awhile and have a cup of coffee (drinking my water while I blog!). Andrea just gave me a spoon of tapioca pudding, it is amazing, this is the one item that I never lost the taste of while I went through all of this...it still tastes the same as it did before we ever started.

Tonight I am sitting at the dinner table with the family to eat dinner for the first time in months. Noodles and gravy should go down fairly smoothly and I can taste the gravy as I have already tried. We'll see how it goes and I'll post it in the blog tomorrow. Dinner is almost ready so that's it for today.