Headin' For the Weekend

Haven't posted anything for a while. I didn't realize it had been so long.

It's been a middle of the road week so far. I didn't bounce back very quickly from last week's treatment. The chemo drugs left me feeling puny through Tuesday, about the time the Radiation Reaction peaked for the week. Then, to top things off, I've picked up some kind of infection.

So Monday and Tuesday were spent feeling quasi-nauseous and tired. My mouth was getting progressively more and more sore because of the returned Thrush and the Radiation sores. I've now not eaten anything but Jello since Sunday, with everything else going in via feeding tube. The feeding tube thing isn't as big a deal as expected but I'm still not exactly comfortable with it. The good news is that my insurance will cover my Nutritional Supplements for the feeding tube so that's a help.

Skin-wise I've been red and peeling up to my eyes on my face and all the way around my neck. My neck is one solid chunk of raw skin as the dead skin peels away. Kinda like one of the worst sunburns you've ever had. That extends down to my upper chest. So it's a larger area than we were expecting. I called to try to ask some questions but the Doctor wasn't easily available and the nurses were full of generic responses. We considered just going in to see the Radiation Doctor on Thursday but decided to wait until our regularly scheduled appointment with them on Monday.

My facial hair is kinda bitin' it. Not completely a bad thing, but I had to trim off my beard yesterday. I still have my mustache for the time being but we'll see if he survives. I've not had to shave in over two weeks, though. Unfortunately I'm also losing a little hair at the neck-line on the back of my head. This is all due to Radiation, not Chemo, so it's very specific areas.

By Tuesday night my throat was way sore as well and, by Wednesday night, I was running a low fever. We had an Oncology Doctor Appointment on Thursday -- our weekly check in. She said I have an infection that's causing the sore throat and fever and I likely have a skin infection which is contributing to the larger area of redness/peeling. She chalked some of the sores on my lips and inside my nose (getting nosebleeds pretty regularly) to a fungus. So, she gave us three more prescriptions. Antibiotic to fight the infections, Antifungal to fight the fungus and some liquid Morphine so that I'll still be able to take pain medication if I get to the point I can't swallow pills.

Another wierd thing is happening. My fingers -- almost just my finger tips -- have become exceedingly sore. This is something they told me could happen to my hands and/or feet. So far it's just hands but a couple of times I was unable to button a shirt and needed help this week. They're better now but I also have a fair chunk of pain killers in my system to deal with my throat and other stuff. So, we'll see how that progresses.

Being a Structural Engineer and all, I've decided to analyze our cabinets to make sure they are structurally adequate to support the continued onslaught of prescription medications that are piling up on them.