Friday, May 4, 2007

Good News!

Went to the ENT today and he checked me out and scoped me with the fiber optics to look for Bill. Bill, like Earl, is no longer visible!!! The base of the tongue where Bill was hanging out at is looking good and normal. Thank God!!! In your mind you know that what they have done will have killed both cancer locations and that they are gone but to have the doc look down there and just verify that they are gone is a huge relief. Now we play the waiting game again for the PET/CT scan in 5 weeks. It will probably be difficult as the time gets closer but right now it is still far enough out that there is no anxiety at this point.

Food wise still doing good. It is a challenge at times to come up with meals; as I need as many calories, good or bad, that I can get to maintain weight or gain. The list of things I want to eat is a mile long, unfortunately most of them are to dry for me to eat yet. A friend of mine asked if I could eat peanut butter; I wish I could but at this point it is too dry, even with the natural oils in it. Bread is really not an option at this point either. Andrea made me french dip for lunch yesterday and I really have to soak the bread to get it to go down without a drink. My tongue is still in the healing stages as well and today is the first day in over a month that I don't have a sore on it! I do baking soda and salt water rinses numerous times a day to keep the pH balance in my mouth neutral which has helped it to heal. Even though I don't have a sore on the tongue it is still red and sensitive to the good things I like to eat! Ranch salad dressing last night on my salad got to burning a bit - go figure salad dressing! It must be the pepper or the garlic??? I love spicy foods, salsa goes great on just about anything...I can't wait to be able to eat like that again! The Brewery Bar's hot green would probably having me crying like a baby at this point!

Once again thanks to everyone out there for their thoughts and prayers.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Tomorrow is a milestone day for us with the ENT looking down the throat to see if Bill is still hanging around. I have to admit that I am a bit nervous about this one. I feel that he's gone since Earl is gone but still it has a tendency to scare the crap out of me if I think about it to much. Thank God for Andrea! She has help to keep me busy and my mind off of things that I don't need to be thinking about too much.

I think I may have gained a little bit back on both saliva and taste; hopefully it's not just wishful thinking! I continue to eat and try new things. The weight is hanging in there and I am gaining a little bit. Those of you who know me know that gaining it is not an easy task for me to do! Andrea keeps track of my intake and helps me to make sure I am getting enough calories at my meals.

Everything is progressing a little bit more every day. I am even surprise to see the changes and the healing that is going on. My neck gets a little lighter, my taste and saliva grow a little more, my strength is even coming back faster than I thought it would. Before you know it I'll be keeping up with the kids again! I am looking forward to that.

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Over the last week I have been dealing with a rash? or outbreak? hard to describe in a single word. They look like a mix between a bite and a zit...if you've ever had them, closer to chiggers but bigger. They were all over my body with my legs and stomach getting the worst of it but I even had them in the palms of my hands. They burned and itched and were about to drive me insane. Called the doc and he prescribed a gel for me to put on them topically; we had already tried everything we had in prescribed and over the counter topicals on them and nothing help to heal them or stop the burning and itching. Ended up getting an appointment with the doc to look at them and see what was going on. He wasn't sure what it was, a lasting post reaction to the steroids or herpes or some other things I don't remember! He prescribed tetracycline and valtrex for me to take and thankfully it has stopped the outbreak and is healing the bumps. Thank God!

I have been eating for a full week now and am maintaining my weight which is what I need to do to get the tube out and return back to work. I can't taste everything all the way yet; most things only at about 40% of what I remember them to be. I also don't have my full saliva back yet either; so bread and other dry things are very difficult at this point. I do have some saliva as I don't need to carry a water bottle to keep my mouth moist or have to take a sip to swallow my food (except really dry foods). It seems that I am getting a little bit more taste and saliva over the past week. It is just a matter of time to get them both back.

My burns (on the neck) are healing very well and quickly. They are no longer the angry red color but have faded to a lighter red and the new skin has come in. I was able to wear a normal T-shirt yesterday for the first time since the radiation therapy cause the burns on my neck back in February! It felt strange to have something touching my neck but it was nice to have some normalcy again. We are only having to put burn cream on my neck twice a day. My throat has healed from the burn and is pain free at this point.

We had an appointment with the radiation doc last week and he felt I was doing very well. He did feel my neck to see if he could feel Earl (I have done this as well as the neck could tolerate it) and neither one of us could find it! I have an appointment with the ENT this Friday and he will look down my throat with the fiber optics to take a look for Bill. Hopefully he will not see any sign of him. Earl was the larger of the two masses and he is gone so Bill should be gone as well.