DAY #35 35 Down and 0 To Go Done!

Day#35 Wednesday Feb.10,2010 This is the date I have been waiting for.
Can you believe it? 35 treatments and now I am done. Now, we cross our fingers and keep saying those prayers and the cancer will not show it's stinking head ever again. I have know doubt that all the prayers that have been coming my way, has helped me get though this in good shape. Before we started with this treatment, my doctors were concerned about how my skin would react to the radiation. Remember, I have a severe case of scleroderma called Morphea. Now that RT is done I can tell you that I have had no bad reactions to my skin. We were worried about my jaw line and face most of all. The tech told me yesterday that they have people who have problems in the second week. These are people who dont have any skin problems like I do. So, I feel real lucky about this. Now I need my throat to settle down so I can start drinking more fluids. As all of you know, that's what I want- DRINK DRINK DRINK. I feel good so now we just need for me to be good. I have made a desicion about this blog now that my treatments are over. Many of you have told me how much you love reading my blog daily. Here's is what I have decided. I will keep writing this blog. I will focus on my daily triumphs and struggles in recovering from Tongue Cancer and Radiation Therapy. I will try to make it light, and interesting. Hopefully you wont be reading about Mr. Mucus for too much longer. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and for reading this blog. Hey- 35 Down and 0,ZERO,NONE To Go

Day #34 34 Down and 1 To Go

Day #34 Tuesday Feb. 9, 2010 34 Down and only 1 TO GO.
I had another bad night sleep and it was a bad evening leading up to that. Again, it is the buikd up of mucus that is putting a strian on me. Since my saliva gland that produce the thin water arr damaged and not working, all I am getting is this thick heavy mucus. It needs the water saliva to attach to it and lead down your throat to be swallowed. It's gross but, no one said this blog was going to be reprinted in Mother Goose. This is real stuff here. Sorta like COPS for cancer patients.I have had fun writing this but now I what to give you a good feel for whats happening at the end of my traetments. As I said in yesterdays blog, this should clear up in a couple of weeks. I have to see my Speech Therapist in the next week or so. I have to get help with some exercises to help me with my speech. I also lost 1 more lbs this week. I am at 164 lbs. Dr. Holland said thats fine and I should be able to start putting on a few lbs. in the next few weeks. One of his patients lost 8 lbs in one week! Just because the RT will be finished doesn't mean that this whole ordeal is done. Now I must - learn to talk, eat, drink, and brush my teeth all over again. Remember, I only have 1/4 of my tongue left. There is something there but it's not a tongue. at this time my mouth will only open just enough to get my index finger between my teeth. I have to exercise my jaw to get that baby opening wide enough to put a fork or spoon in it. This will be very important over the next couple of months. If I let scare tissue build up in these areas, I will never be able to regain use of those muscles. So, I will have to focus on: jaw, neck ( from side to side) and tongue. I have to exercise my tongue by sicking it out as far as I can. Funny thing is that my tongue will never even be able to go past my lips. But , I must keep exercising it to build up the muslces. Okay , That's it for today. I juts tried to have a sip of chocolate milk and I almost chocked on my laptop. I am going to go see if I can have some water. I did drink about 6 oz. of water today on the way to RT. I need to get about 8 oz more before bedtime.
Oh By The Way 34 DOWN AND ONLY 1 TO GO

Day #33 33 Down and 2 To Go

Day # 33 Monday Feb. 8, 2010 Only 2 more to go.

You might be expecting to read my blog to day and it be full of Saints stories and highlights and stories and highlights. Well, you will be disappointed then. As you can see, the picture I put up for yesterday says it all. CHAMPIONS! There is no way to top that or anything I can say that would explain it any better. So, read it and weep- Colt Fans!!!!

Sunday and Monday were not good days for me. With the end of my treatments only an arms length away, these side effects are still kicking my ass. We tried to go over to our great neighbors house for the Super Bowl but my mucus was so bad we left about halftime. We should have come home earlier but these people are so good to us, we wanted to stay as long as we could. We game home and I had about 3 really bad rounds with this mucus. What happens is that, I have to gargle to get the mucus out and with that you bring up more mucus from way down in your throat. When it breaks, it lodges in your throat and I am telling you, there are times that I cant breath and it feels like that's going to be all she wrote. My eyes get blood shot, my nose may start to bleed, my face turns bright red, and my eyes water and my face kind of swells. This has been the hardest part of this treatment. I know you are probably tired of hearing it but, if I can help someone who may go through this one day, the it was worth the writing. I had a bad night in bed also, having to get up a few times to clear the mucus. The sleepless nights along with the fatigue from the RT really takes control of me in the afternoon. At about 3pm , I am ready to get dressed in pj's and take me a nice nap. I am just drained of energy by this time. Okay, have a good day and did I mention that THE NEW ORLEANS SAINTS WON THE SUPER BOWL?

WOW

okay 22 down and 2 To Go

ENUFF SAID

Day #32 32 Down and only 3 To Go

Day #32 Friday Feb. 6, 2010 Only 3 Treatments Remain!!!
I can't believe it, Only 3 more treatments to go. Time sure flies when you're having fun. LOL! Really, it is amazing that it really did fly by. I just hope and pray that this is the end of any kind of treatment for cancer. Kari and I do believe that the cancer will be gone when tests are taken. As for as how I am feeling well, thank God this will end soon. The mucus situation is testing my strengths. It is so agrevating how it flares up at certain times. Times when you wish it would just stay away. Like when someone stops by to see us and to see how I am feeling. It almost seems that as soon as the doorbell rings, here comes the mucus. It's that way with the phone too. As soon as I would like to talk on the phone, here comes Mr. Mucus. I was bragging about being able to drink a little water the other day well, just as I also said, the next day I couldn't drink anything. I have never, not once, felt like I needed to eat. Now, I see all these food commercials and it looks good but, I never have a craven for food. But, when I see ice tea, gatorade, snapple or juice commercials, I go nuts. I know I am beating a dead horse but, I just want you to think about this. I have had 3/4 of my tongue removed, 3 operations, stuck in my house since September, barely able to do anything for myself and yet , the worse part of it all is that I can't drink a glass of ice cold water or drink anything for that matter. Those things we take for granted is amazing. Treatment #32 went fine and I had no problems. They locked me in and I think I fell asleep. I should ask more questions about what there are doing each day but I dont want to stay there any longer than I need to. I wonder if they radiate the same areas everyday or to they do it in steps. I promise I will ask some of those little info questions before I am done. I will past them along to you.
So with I will say- 32 Down and ONLY 3 TO GO. Thanks for reading my blog. Now get out there and pull for the Saints and be ready to cheer for a Champion. Let me hear you say it---
WHO DAT!!!!

DAY #31 31 Down and ONLY 4 To Go

Day# 31 Thursday Feb. 4, 2010 Only 4 Treatments Remain!!

Okay , yesterday evening was a really bad time for me. For some reason it seemed like someone had turned on a switch to produce 10X the mucus for me. Man, it was the worse it's ever been. I choked about 4-5 times and let me tell you, that isn't any fun. I was worried a few times that I wouldn't catch my breath. This went on from about 2:00 pm until about 11:00 pm. After fighting this all evening, I took my meds and went off to bed. I was anticipating a bad night but, to my suprize, I slept all night without any problems. This morning I was determined to try and find something that would work for ME. Everything that I have tried has worked for other folks but for some reason it hasn't worked for me. I took a little pain medicine this morning and after about 15 minutes, I poured me some Ice Cold Water and got ready to take a chance. To my surprise, I was able to drink about 10 oz.! I drank a little more on the way to my RT this morning. Dr. Holland had mentioned something in one of our meetings and it was stuck in the back of my mind. He mentioned something about pain medicine may help me swallow better. I wasn't thinking about this from the same way he was. So, I took pain medicine and once it kicked in I tried to drink. I wish I would have thought of this before. Now, you watch, tomorrow it won't work. It seems that everyday is different. So, far now, I will try to keep a little more pain medicine in my body and see if this helps. I just have not been a person, throughout this 5 month journey , who has taken any medicine for pain. On the other hand, I had no pain throught this journey, except for my throat. I'll keep ya'll posted. Next , I will have to try to eat something. It will be a smoothie or ice cream or maybe yogurt.

Now I most remind all of you. 31 Down and ONLY 4 TO GO!!!!

WHO DAT!!!!

Day #30 30 Down and 5 To Go

Day #30 Wednesday Feb. 3, 2010. Can you believe it? Only 5 days to go!! What a week- Saints will win the Super Bowl and I will beat cancer!

I had a rough afternoon yesterday but at least it tired me out so that I had a good nights sleep. I had a couple of bad rounds with the thick mucus. My treatment was at 11:00am this morning, which is the perfect time for me. There was no traffic and I zoomed into Portland for my treatment. Again, I didn't have to wait more than 2 minutes before they called my name. As soon as I arrived on the 4th floor, I went to the restroom to gargle and rinse with my special cocktail. I am glad I did as I had a lot of mucus at that time. I went into the room, got undressed and laid on the table. By the way, when I say undressed, I mean I took my coat, and top shirt off only. I laid down and took a few deep breaths. They placed the mask on me and they all left the room as usual. The machines started moving and my table started to adjust itself when all of a sudden I realized that I couldn't breathe. I large mass of mucus was clogging my airway and because of the mask, I couldn't cough or do anything about it. I started waving my hands, as they had instructed me on day one, to show I needed help. They announced on the PA- we'll be there in a flash, and they were there in about 20 seconds. They popped the mask off and I was able to cough. The lowered the table and got me off asap. I had another cocktial and was able to rinse the mucus mass and breathe again. Man, that scared the crap out of me. I had thought of that happening many times but it had never taken place. Wouldn't you know it, 5 left and I almost choke to death. Lord! After about 5 minutes, I caught my breath and was ready for the treatment. Everything went according to plan after that. In about 16 minutes I was done with #30. The techs were so sorry at what had happened and I assured them that it wasn't anything they did or didn't do. I got dressed and headed home. Agian, there was no traffic and I zoomed home. I had to take some pain medicine with my noon meal ( I wish it were a real meal) of jivity. That made me a little drowsy so I had to take a little nap. I am feeling a bit better now. If your wondering about how the new Miracle MouthWash is doing well, that's another story. I have tried it and you have to aquire a taste for it and be ready for the texture. I am supposed to gargle with it and then swallow. It will numb the mouth and then when you swallow, it will numb the throat. WHEW!@&%^!@% Gargling is not to bad but, I have a problem with the swallowing part. Maybe I am a wimp or maybe it is becuase of my other condition but, I have a problem swallowing this stuff. I will not give up and will keep trying to swallow. I will just keep thinking about that big glass of ICE COLD WATER that awaits me at the finish line..

Anyhow , I almost forgot 30 Down and 5 To Go.......................... WHO DAT!