Day #18 18 Down and 17 To Go

Day #18 Friday January 15,2010
Friday was a rough day because Thurday afternoon and Thursday night were pretty rough. The rough part is two fold. Part 1 is the heavy, thick, over producing saliva. Most people get grossed out wen you talk about this but, it is something we all have except not to the extreme that I am experiencing. This is caused by the radiation distroying the thin water saliva production. In a normal mouth you have both thick and thin saliva. Since my thin saliva is not there, all I have is this thick mucus. As I said in my blog from earlier days, I have to gorgle about 12-15 times per day to help with this issue. I do this with two different types of "cocktails". #1 8 oz. of water/1/4 teaspoon baking soda/1/4 teaspoon salt. The other is a prescription mix. This mix helps to soothe the throat after it takes a beating from the salt. On Friday and Saturday I was just about unable to speak. The problem is that when I begin to talk, my mouth fills up with saliva. Its a weird thing. I think I said 10 words to Kari on Friday and Saturday.It's tough because, I feel fine, I just can't talk with ease. Kari has been good about this. Hell, it's like I am on the road working , since I can't talk. With this , the pain involved comes from my throat. It is felt when I swallow. Even if I a just swallowing saliva it hurts like hell. It fells like razor blades in my throat. I have been trying to find things to drink to help soothe my throat. As I said before , milk does help. I just have to get it to the correct temperature. Too cold hurts and to warm just is plan nasty. I have also increased one of my pain meds to help with my throat. so far it seems to help. I am writing this on Monday morning. I have no RT today as it is MKL day. I had and up and down weekend. I just know that I am halfway down with this RT. That's right folks 18 Down and 17 To Go