It's been a while

I was just e-mailing with a friend who's recently been diagnosed with Cancer. I told her how much luck I've had using a blog to keep people informed of my progress and how it's been somewhat therapeutic for me at the same time.

I then realized it's been forever since I've posted anything. I guess I told everyone that's the way it was going to be but who'd have thought I really meant it?

Oh well, I went to the Dentist last week. Just my regular Dentist for a regular check-up. He said everything looks great there. No new problems like I had last time I saw him so I was pleased by that.

Other than that, things just keep on keepin' on. I've seen little to no progress with eating and other local mouth/throat problems. Dry mouth is no better, tongue pain is still hanging around, swallowing is still an issue, any spice at all is still a problem. But I'm really learning to live with all that. We had a weird adjustment period where the family felt bad eating things I couldn't eat and I felt bad about their not eating things I knew they wanted to eat. But we're finding some things that meet both criteria and we're all realizing it's OK for them to have something for dinner that I can't eat and I'll just find something else that I can eat.

I don't want to say we're all just accepting this as my new normal. We're still hoping for progress but if, when the dust settled, this were my new normal I think we could all do OK with it.

Physically I continue to feel great. I don't know how long it will last but my body's still spending a lot of energy healing so I get to eat lots of ice cream and desserts and I'm not gaining a pound -- much to Jenny's dismay. I'm supposed to be gaining a little but not yet. You'll all want to dump your Mrs. Smith's stocks you have about the time I have to slow down on Desserts. I expect they'll notice a significant drop in sales when I quit buying. Right now I've been putting away lots of her frozen pies. They're pretty dang-darn good, though, if you've not tried them. Her blackberry cobbler is particularly tasty. And yes, if you're confused about my desserts and two paragraphs previous when I was telling you about all my eating problems, fruit pie goes down quite nicely.

Still going to the gym regularly. Probably contributing to my lack of weight gain but also contributing to my feeling as good as I have in years. I feel like I could run in the Kansas City Marathon this fall. Not gonna do it, of course, but I feel like I could.

Tim's first Soccer Game was tonight. They won 4-0. I'm looking forward to actually attending soccer matches this year as opposed to just hearing the wrap up like I did last fall.

Next medical appointment is a routine physical Sept 22. Then mid-October will kick of my next round of scans and related appointments. I think I'll enjoy a calm September for a change.

Holding Pattern Now

Saw Dr. Tsue last week and after his regular poking, prodding and gagging he pronounced me to be progressing on track. He thought my continued swelling inside my throat was semi-typical for 8-months out from treatment. Could be better but it could also be worse.

Dry mouth is an ongoing problem. I had hoped to get into a study that KU Med is participating in but, apparently, the study is closed. So nothing to do there.

Overall, nothing much has changed recently. Local side effects in my throat and mouth continue to linger without much change and, outside my throat and mouth, I feel really good. My only other issue is still occasional fatigue, particularly if I have a project I'm working on around the house. Unfortunately I have quite a backlog of projects around the house. So they're just going a little slowly.

Weight has been pretty stable. I'm weighing in at 170 or 171 lately. That's up a bit from my 165 lb low I had early this year but I'm not exactly packing on the pounds either. I've gotten a rash of "Gawd you look skinny" type comments of late. I've been this size for 8-9 months now, though, so I'm not sure if people just noticed or what. Some have been from people I've not seen in a long time and that's understandable. But from others I don't understand.

One more lymphedema treatment then I go to one treatment every 6-weeks there. I have a dentist appointment in late August and a regular physical in late September. But no more Cancer doctors until October. Whoo-Hoo!

Barring some unexpected new development, it'll probably be a while between blog updates now. As before, I may get some wild hair and stick something out here, but otherwise no news is good news.

Until then . . .