Just a quick post here:
As of 11/18, I'm officially done with cancer treatments! The last 2 weeks have been the roughest I could've ever imagined, but I got through it and now its time to finally relax and take a fresh of breath air! The Dr's aren't going to take a final scan for another month, I still have some radiation flowing through my body. There's also still a bunch of inflammation and scar tissue from all the treatments, so they'd like to let that subside a bit before taking my final scans. Until then, I'm just going to assume the treatments have worked and I'm cancer-free. I know its a strong assumption, but I'm trying to be optimistic here.
Scans will be done on 12/17 and my oncologist set up an appt with her for 12/24 (yes, Christmas Eve) to discuss the results of the scans. That appt COULD be the most incredible gift God could offer......complete remission, I'm hoping and praying thats the case!
In the meantime, I'm slowly going to try and get myself back into my normal lifestyle. I've been waiting 6 months for this, can't wait!
Thanks to all of you for your amazing support through this entire process. I know we're not out of the woods yet, but I can see the clearing and I'm getting antsy!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Friday, November 20, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
1.5 weeks of Radiation left
Alright, its 6am on Monday morn and I've had a terrible nights sleep (thats been the theme over the last 1.5 weeks). Went to bed at 11:30, woke up at 1am, 2am, and 430am......been up since. I'm gonna be "realistic" during this entry, so dont get discouraged if I'm not the 100% positive cancer patient you've been used to hearing from.
This radiation process is REALLY starting to get to me, its definately much more difficult than chemo. My throat is completely ripped up from the treatment, its also affecting my lungs. I can barely swallow my own saliva as I cringe every time, I wake up in the middle of the night with my throat feeling like its completely swollen shut, I can't stop coughing and trying to clear my throat. Through this process doctors have been adament about me monitoring my body temperature, anything above 100.4 I need to report to them, especially with all this flu crap flying around. I've been taking my temperature over the last couple days, and unfortunately its been fluctuating from normal to 100, which is starting to raise some concern on my end. I'm going in today for my 16th radiation treatment, I'm going to mention this to the nurses/doctors and see what they recommend.
Its great to think that I only have another 1.5 weeks of this hell. To be accurate, they'll only be radiating my neck another 4 days (thru this Thursday), the last 4 days of treatment will concentrate solely on the active node they found in my chest from my last scan. Unfortunately, the current side effects will last for another 1-2 weeks after treatment has been completed.
In the meantime I'm staying positive, but again it hard to keep a high quality mindset when I can't ever get a good nights rest. If you guys have any suggestions on how to manage this, please let me know, I'll run it by the Dr's to see if they approve. This almost feels like the absolute WORST case of strep throat you could imagine.......throw in a chest cold and about 4 mouth sores. Oh yea, the salivary glands in my neck are completely disintegrated, so my mouth is dry as hell too. The list just keeps going and going........
Hope everyone is doing well and getting ready for the Holidays. I'm hoping I'll get a clean bill of health before Thanksgiving!
This radiation process is REALLY starting to get to me, its definately much more difficult than chemo. My throat is completely ripped up from the treatment, its also affecting my lungs. I can barely swallow my own saliva as I cringe every time, I wake up in the middle of the night with my throat feeling like its completely swollen shut, I can't stop coughing and trying to clear my throat. Through this process doctors have been adament about me monitoring my body temperature, anything above 100.4 I need to report to them, especially with all this flu crap flying around. I've been taking my temperature over the last couple days, and unfortunately its been fluctuating from normal to 100, which is starting to raise some concern on my end. I'm going in today for my 16th radiation treatment, I'm going to mention this to the nurses/doctors and see what they recommend.
Its great to think that I only have another 1.5 weeks of this hell. To be accurate, they'll only be radiating my neck another 4 days (thru this Thursday), the last 4 days of treatment will concentrate solely on the active node they found in my chest from my last scan. Unfortunately, the current side effects will last for another 1-2 weeks after treatment has been completed.
In the meantime I'm staying positive, but again it hard to keep a high quality mindset when I can't ever get a good nights rest. If you guys have any suggestions on how to manage this, please let me know, I'll run it by the Dr's to see if they approve. This almost feels like the absolute WORST case of strep throat you could imagine.......throw in a chest cold and about 4 mouth sores. Oh yea, the salivary glands in my neck are completely disintegrated, so my mouth is dry as hell too. The list just keeps going and going........
Hope everyone is doing well and getting ready for the Holidays. I'm hoping I'll get a clean bill of health before Thanksgiving!
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