Whats Up This Week? Not Much, Yippee!

Its amazing the difference a week can make. A week ago I was feeling the full brunt of the radiation treatments and the last major chemo. It was all I could do to get out of bed and handle the feedings with the PEG tube. Now, a week later my energy level is up and I don't need to nap as much during the day.

This upcoming week the only thing on tap is a MRI for Thursday. That is to see what is going on in the nasalpharyngeal region. That will provide a update on how the radiation worked. The medical oncologist said that at this point they can't do another PET scan because of the impact of the radiation treatments. They will do when the the last set of chemo treatments are done.

Next week we meet with the medical oncologist to discuss the next steps for the last three chemo treatments. In the meantime my job is to recover from the radiation side effects. One of the major side effects are the incredible sore throat. It is so sore that I can't even swallow at this point though it has gotten a bit better in the last few days. Another side effect is dry mouth. There are various stages of dry mouth and we won't really know where I end up at for several months. As I recover some of the other salivary gland functions may come back or the may not. This could be the one significant long term side effect. Related to the throat and dry mouth is an inability to really talk at this point though that has also gotten a bit better over the last day. Lastly is the impact on my mouth. There are some sores and I have no taste whatsoever. The taste buds will come back but no one really knows how much. According the the radiation oncologist that could take up to 6 months.

My primary concern now is the recovery of my throat. I need to be able to start to swallow if I am going to get off of the PEG tube. The PEG tube was definitely needed but having to do the feedings on a schedule and such is a pain. I miss getting calories the old fashioned way, snacking all day long on junk food! Hopefully my throat will recover during the month of January. I have to admit that during the holiday season the one thing I really missed is eating.