So far the sea sickness patch seems to be working. It hasn't totally stopped the mucus flow but has made it much more manageable. Yesterday I was able to take in over 2,000 calories and lots of fluids. Having the proper nutrition and hydration really make a difference in how I feel. Hats off to all those people that got sea sick on cruises. Enough to create a market for sea sickness patches. Their sacrifices are greatly appreciated. :-)
On other news the CT Scan to adjust the radiation treatment is scheduled for Friday. I am allergic to the contrast dye that is used during the scan so there is some medication I have to take prior to the scan. Afterwards I will take Benadryl. Once the scan is done it takes about a week to work out the new treatment plan. Once the plan is created it is tested on the machine using water and some special rods, or at least something like that. If I get a chance I hope to ask the radiation techs how that works. I will be interested in the results and hopefully on Monday I can discuss them with the radiation oncologist. The tumors are definitely shrinking and this will provide a measure of how much they have shrunk.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Anchors Away: A New Side Effect
Its been a week since chemo treatment II (And only 16 radiation treatments left to go) and a new side effect has appeared. One of the side effects of radiation treatment for head neck and throat cancers is dry mouth. Another side effect or maybe its part of that is that your saliva and mucus becomes very thick. Thick to the point where swallowing it with water isn't really possible. What happens is that it just sits there in the back of your throat until enough accumulates and the gag reflex kicks in. You can imagine the rest.
This started to appear on Sunday and yesterday really became a problem. One of my tasks during treatment is to make sure I get enough nutrition and hydration. This latest turn of events, aside from the obvious discomfort, has started to cause a problem in that regard. It appears to get worse during the day so I suspect that the radiation treatments may trigger an increased production of this a few hours after treatment. It also makes it hard to sleep as well.
Today I started a plan of rinsing my mouth out and using a "spittoons" of sorts to handle the saliva. There isn't much that I can do about the mucus that drains in the back of the throat. I was so wiped out this morning that I ended up moving my appointment for radiation to later in the day. Turns out that didn't work so well but the people at the radiation center did get a demonstration of what I am going through. :-) (I will leave this to your imagination.)
So where does the Anchors Away reference come from? One of the ways to help mitigate this is to dry out the nasal passages. Enter the prescription sea sickness patches. A side effect of the sea sickness patch is that it dries out your mucus and saliva. It takes a bit for the patch to go into effect so hopefully by tomorrow I will notice some difference. Who knew that at the same time I am getting treated for cancer I could also be preparing for a cruise.
Seriously this is the one side effect that does have me a bit concerned. I've lost about 15 lbs so far. The ability to keep food and medicine down is important to the treatment regime and this does hinder that ability. And of course there is the down side of how it feels as well. :-)
This started to appear on Sunday and yesterday really became a problem. One of my tasks during treatment is to make sure I get enough nutrition and hydration. This latest turn of events, aside from the obvious discomfort, has started to cause a problem in that regard. It appears to get worse during the day so I suspect that the radiation treatments may trigger an increased production of this a few hours after treatment. It also makes it hard to sleep as well.
Today I started a plan of rinsing my mouth out and using a "spittoons" of sorts to handle the saliva. There isn't much that I can do about the mucus that drains in the back of the throat. I was so wiped out this morning that I ended up moving my appointment for radiation to later in the day. Turns out that didn't work so well but the people at the radiation center did get a demonstration of what I am going through. :-) (I will leave this to your imagination.)
So where does the Anchors Away reference come from? One of the ways to help mitigate this is to dry out the nasal passages. Enter the prescription sea sickness patches. A side effect of the sea sickness patch is that it dries out your mucus and saliva. It takes a bit for the patch to go into effect so hopefully by tomorrow I will notice some difference. Who knew that at the same time I am getting treated for cancer I could also be preparing for a cruise.
Seriously this is the one side effect that does have me a bit concerned. I've lost about 15 lbs so far. The ability to keep food and medicine down is important to the treatment regime and this does hinder that ability. And of course there is the down side of how it feels as well. :-)
Monday, November 26, 2007
The Arial Campaign Hits the Halfway Point!
Not much to report except that today was radiation treatment number 18. That puts me over halfway done with the major portion of the treatment plan. Just to update people the major treatment for nasopharyngeal carcinoma is 7 weeks of radiation along with 3 chemo treatments. Its a fairly intense treatment plan. I took a look at the completion rate of some of the studies and roughly 65% of the people starting the treatment plan complete it. Right now I have completed 18 out of 35 radiation treatments and 2 out of the 3 major chemo treatments. That puts me 51% done with radiation and two thirds of the way done with the major chemo portion. At this point I am feeling confident that I will complete the major treatment portion of the plan on schedule. Yippee!!
Of course afterwards there is a follow up treatment plan of up to 3 chemo treatments. That treatment is a reduced version of the chemo drug I was on during radiation along with an infusion of something else. From what I have been able to learn this treatment is designed to get any stray cancer cells. When talking to the people up at Rosswell this is the one area that there hasn't been much comparison studies on. There hasn't been any studies comparing the effectiveness using IMRT radiation and chemo at the same time with the follow up chemo versus not having the follow up chemo. From what I understand they will rescan me at the end of the radiation as a baseline to see what else needs to be done and determine the number of treatments from there.
The tumors are definitely shrinking in my neck. I can't really tell about the ones in the nasopharyngeal region. Ever since the second week that area has felt better. The radiation oncologist did take a look with a scope a week and a half ago and there definitely was progress in that area. One of the the things that would be nice to have but isn't possible is a regular update on how the tumors are shrinking. I am not asking for something fancy but it would be nice to have weekly updates, maybe with a visual telestrator type of prompt, on how the war is going. Then again at the cost of a PET scan that may not be the most practical thing to do but I can dream.
The biggest issue I am having now is the thrush infection. I won't bore you with the details but right after chemo treatments this goes wild in my mouth. Unfortunately with the effects of the radiation the "Miracle Mouthwash" (I just love that name.) isn't as effective. It is just too difficult to take. Today the radiation oncologist prescribed a drug that I can grind up and take via the feeding tube that should help get that knocked down.
I did talk to the nurse at the radiation oncologist office about the recovery time once the radiation is completed. It can take about 4-6 weeks for the throat to recover. The taste buds can take up to 6 months. At first people only start to taste strong flavors and in some cases your taste does get changed permanently. This could put me back to starting to eat normal food again in mid January with my taste coming back in the late spring. One thing I will have to do is alter my food list to start with spicy or strong flavored foods first. Maybe a Stilton blue cheese jalapeno burger with habenaro sauce would be the way to go. Then again maybe I should ask what to start with. :-) I imagine that there is a recommended way to go from an all liquid diet back to a solid one.
Of course afterwards there is a follow up treatment plan of up to 3 chemo treatments. That treatment is a reduced version of the chemo drug I was on during radiation along with an infusion of something else. From what I have been able to learn this treatment is designed to get any stray cancer cells. When talking to the people up at Rosswell this is the one area that there hasn't been much comparison studies on. There hasn't been any studies comparing the effectiveness using IMRT radiation and chemo at the same time with the follow up chemo versus not having the follow up chemo. From what I understand they will rescan me at the end of the radiation as a baseline to see what else needs to be done and determine the number of treatments from there.
The tumors are definitely shrinking in my neck. I can't really tell about the ones in the nasopharyngeal region. Ever since the second week that area has felt better. The radiation oncologist did take a look with a scope a week and a half ago and there definitely was progress in that area. One of the the things that would be nice to have but isn't possible is a regular update on how the tumors are shrinking. I am not asking for something fancy but it would be nice to have weekly updates, maybe with a visual telestrator type of prompt, on how the war is going. Then again at the cost of a PET scan that may not be the most practical thing to do but I can dream.
The biggest issue I am having now is the thrush infection. I won't bore you with the details but right after chemo treatments this goes wild in my mouth. Unfortunately with the effects of the radiation the "Miracle Mouthwash" (I just love that name.) isn't as effective. It is just too difficult to take. Today the radiation oncologist prescribed a drug that I can grind up and take via the feeding tube that should help get that knocked down.
I did talk to the nurse at the radiation oncologist office about the recovery time once the radiation is completed. It can take about 4-6 weeks for the throat to recover. The taste buds can take up to 6 months. At first people only start to taste strong flavors and in some cases your taste does get changed permanently. This could put me back to starting to eat normal food again in mid January with my taste coming back in the late spring. One thing I will have to do is alter my food list to start with spicy or strong flavored foods first. Maybe a Stilton blue cheese jalapeno burger with habenaro sauce would be the way to go. Then again maybe I should ask what to start with. :-) I imagine that there is a recommended way to go from an all liquid diet back to a solid one.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)