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I know I haven't updated this page in a while,Only because I have been busy and tired.
I went back to work the first Monday in October.That was the week after I finished Chemotherapy.I saw the oncologist that Tuesday, and my whiteblood cell count was normal, and my tumors hadall but returned to normal. My stomach was stillupset but she gave me another pill. That onecompletely took care of my problems. By Friday,all the chemo was out of my system and I was ableto eat normally.
All the while I still had the chemo in mysystem every I ate or drank tasted like thechemicals. Which is why only strong, freshfood appealed to me. It tends to get a littleexpensive and difficult to eat. I tried a grilledchicken sandwich at one fast food place, but forgotto have leave the sauce off. Yukk! Now that I amable to eat normally I have been trying to put onweight. I lost 5 pounds during the chemo and I needto put that back on plus more for the rest of mybattle.
I go back in tomorrow, Monday, for my next chemotreatment. I am going to go on disability becausemy treatment will alternate between chemo and rad-iation therapy every 2 weeks or so. I expect to beeither very nauseous or in quite a bit of pain. IfI can get the nausea and pain undercontrol then Iwill return to work. The doctor said that I shouldbe done with treatment in January.
That is good news. However, I would rather be at work.
My last day at work was quite emotional, as one lady (who has been a good friend there) is leavingnext week, and just saying goodby in general toeveryone else.
Emotionally I have been very up since I gotout back to work and especially so since my visitto the oncologist. Everyone at work has been verysupportive and helpful. How can I feel anything butup with people like I work with!!
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I wwnt into to the hospital yesterday for my2nd round of chemo, the Oncologist came and looked at me and said that the tumors are gone.The problem is that there may still be some cells left hanging around, so I will have 2 more treatments of chemo and quite an aggresive round of radiation therapy.
Starting on the first Monday of November I willstart a radiation therapy consisting of 2 treatmentsa day, 5 days a week for 7 weeks. Between now andthen I have to have see a dentist and get all dentalwork done. I have to have a cat scan (Interesting,for years I have read about all these hi-tech pro-cedures and now I get to experience them first hand.) The side effects are really ugly. I will lose my beard, and it will take 6-7 months to grow back.
Even worse, my taste buds will will not work properlyand every thing will taste terrible, I will also losemy salivary glands and there is a good chance they willnever come back. I will have a permanent cotton- mouthand will have to carry around a waterbottle.
About 3-4 weeks into the radiation therapy I willdevelop a severe sore throat and will be unable toswallow. Consequently I will have a tube placed inmy stomach and instead of eating I will poor mydinner into my stomach. I am now really lookingforward to Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.
Emotionaly I am doing quite well, and find myselfa little nervous about my treatments but currentlyin an exceedingly good mood. I was joking and teasingthe nurses, and with some of the patients I met.
An aside about the battle. I was thinking last nightfriend and family can and will give you plenty of support, the doctors and nurses can help with thetreatments, but when everything gets right down tothe nitty-gritty, Cancer is a lonely battle. I fightmine inside my body, My body is undergoing a massiveamount of stress and invasions of poisons. I know that what I am going through is very hard on my wife and family, but it is nothing compared to what it is doing to me.
dickcif you read these pages please email me at