The Final Stand - Day 11

Hello! Welcome back to my journey where everyday is a new day.

I woke up today with my mouth feeling extremely dry and harsh. The headache was back as well, so needless to say, my morning didn't start out as I would have liked. I crawled out of bed before Jess and the kids left, but I didn't make it much further than the couch.

I got hungry around 8:00, so I made myself a shake using a chocolate ensure, peanut butter powder, and a banana. It didn't taste great, but it didn't taste bad - I'll chalk it up as a win. After my shake, I took a nap.

My alarm went off at 10:00, which meant it was time to get ready for my day. I felt better now than I did earlier in the morning, but still not 100%. The dryness of my throat is persistent, and drives me to drink water constantly. Looking in the mirror, I can definitely see that my neck is taking on a rose color... which means the burn is coming. The skin is still painless and soft to the touch... I really hope it stays this way for the three day weekend.

Jess showed-up right on schedule. We made lunches to go since we knew we wouldn't be wasting any money eating out anymore. I made a peanut butter and honey sandwich and a my normal mid-day fruit smoothie. The sandwich was cool, but the fruit smoothie had to be coerced into my belly.

We made it to my radiation oncology appointment to a full waiting room. They must have had some sort of internal function going on because the entire staff seemed to be per-occupied with something other than their job. Today is Thursday, so I got to meet with my oncologist after getting zapped. He was very brief today. He asked me a couple questions, felt my neck, looked in my neck, and said goodbye. It was very awkward.

I was able to secure a prescription for a medication I was running low on, so Jess ran me to the Walgreens down the street. We had about an hour to kill before we needed to be at St. Mary's Hospital for my lymphedema appointment. The gal at the counter told me it would take 30-40 minutes, so Jess and I slowly perused each aisle. We gathered a couple items we knew we needed for the house... and a couple we didn't. I bought a bad of Spicy Nacho Doritos, hoping they would have some taste I could appreciate.

After collecting my prescription and paying for our assortment of goods, Jess and I headed towards my next appointment. On the way to St. Mary's, I decided to try the Doritos. They tasted like a bland corn tortilla chip. There was not one hint of seasoning or spice. If I can't find flavor from a Doritos chip... there is not hope left.

We made it St. Mary's ten minutes before my scheduled appointment. We waiting about twenty minutes, which means I was waiting longer than I should have for the second time today.

The lymphedema therapist took Jess and I back to a room that had a massage bed and a couple chairs. We spent the first ten minutes discussing what we had done since our last visit to help break down the scar tissue on my neck. She then discussed how we were going to re-route the fluid in my neck by using alternative lymphatic pathways. Some of the massages will require the assistance of another person, so Jess was involved in the learning process quite a bit. The therapist spent about 30 minutes massaging my skin, showing Jess and I how we should move the fluid away from my face and toward the heart. To be honest... there really isn't much to it. The concept is simple, and the massage touches are so light, you almost don't have to touch the skin at all. I can definitely feel the difference after having the lymphatic massage, but I am a little taken back that there isn't more to it.

 

I was glad to be heading home. I felt drained by the time we left St. Mary's. On our way home, I received a text message from my Aunt Penny, who I haven't seen for a very long time. She and her fiance Ed are in Tucson as part of their vacation. She wanted to stop by the house, and I was more than happy to have her over. We sat in the living room for a little over an hour catching-up. I was pleased she stopped by. After four days of hoping between nurses and doctors, it was nice to just shoot the breeze about topics other than cancer.