On the Path of Recovery - Day 1

Hello family and friends! I'm so glad to see you back.

I was very taken by the overwhelming support you all provided me last night in your likes and comments. Like I said, that journey would have been completely different without you.

I've decided to continue blogging. First, some of you request it, and I'm a man of my word. And second, I thought about the blog and felt by stopping, the blog wouldn't be complete. There is a lot of mystery surrounding this recovery phase. Will my recovery be fast, or drag-on for months? Will I develop new side-effects I had presented during treatment? Regardless what the answers are, I feel it is important to document this journey in its entirety.

So, last night was not fun. I had to get-up every twenty to thirty minutes to hack-up a nasty mucus ball. The good thing is... I'm learning how to clear it quickly, so the entire process only lasts a couple seconds. Waking-up startled is not fun, but at least I'm not hanging my head over the sink for twenty minutes.

Today was decent. My mucus was under control for most of the day. There was a short duration when it was out of control, but I'll talk about that in a minute. I'm glad to report that my neck burns no longer hurt, but the skin is now peeling. The peeled skin looks like it would if you got a really bad sunburn. My swallowing is getting really difficult. Part of the problem is all the coughing and hacking I'm doing to clear the mucus, so its hard to tell. Regardless... I need to make sure I don't loose that function. The sore on my tongue is outrageous! It looks like a burn that spans the side of my tongue. It's as thick as a pencil and runs for about an inch and a half. The pain becomes so bad that I'm am now using my Lidocaine rinse throughout the day.

I attempted a workout on my exercise bike today. I was careful not to push myself, only riding for ten minutes with a low resistance. It didn't take long for my heart rate to reach 100. It continued to climb, eventually leveling off around 126. It felt good getting my heart rate up. I was amazed at how quickly I began to sweat. This exercise would have been nothing six month ago, but now its making me sweat. I guess I'm more out of shape than I thought.

I sat down to relax after my workout. I was hacking-up mucus uncontrollably. I mean... I don't know how my body was possibly producing mucus that quickly. I even commented to Jess that this was the first time today the mucus had given me much of a problem. Like right now... at 8:45 in the evening... the mucus is not that big of a deal. I get the urge to spit-up every fifteen to twenty minutes, but nothing like what was going on after that workout.

Anyways, I don't know if I'm going to continue working out quite yet. I might wait until this mucus nonsense is behind me.

My first recovery day was okay. I'm going stir-crazy at home, but cannot drive myself anywhere due to the meds I'm on. I can't just sit outside because it's over 100 degrees. Hey... it could be worst! I'm glad to be alive.

Thanks again for the overwhelming outpour of support.