Good evening, dear reader. Anothoer brief update this evening; unfortunately, I am under the weather and am currently torn between writing and sleep. It appears that a compromise between the two is in order. I decided to write a brief update of my condition and then try to get back to sleep.
This morning’s radiation therapy was interesting. Ok, not so much interesting as uncomfortable. For some reason, my mouth was quite dry this morning, and, as a result, when the wonderful mouth block was added to the mix, I started to gag. There is enough freedom of movement in the radiation bondage get-up that I could reach up and remove the offending doorstop on my own, which became necessary on multiple occasions. I’m not sure if the dry mouth is a side effect beginning to manifest (as was mentioned would happen eventually) or if I was simply dehydrataed this morning. Either way, the process this morning was decidedly less pleasant this morning than it had been over the previous week. But, hey, at least my hair hasn’t started falling out yet.
As normal for a Tuesday, most of my day was occupied by work, which was also a bit more unpleasant than it had been in recent memory. I haven’t been sleeping too well recently, and the fatigue is finally starting to catch up with me. The highlight of the day was a conference call – yep, I wa fortunate enough to be needed on the telephone today; awesome – that was difficult, but manageable. As I introduced myself on the call, I let the others know that I had recently had surgery and was relearning how to speak. I asked then not to worry about asking me to repeat anything that wasn’t clear. It was a bit of a fight, but I managed to be understood with some effort. I can’t wait for the swelling to finally disappear completely so that I’m more easily understood; the prosthetic will help, too, I’m sure.
By the time I got home, I was exhausted. I decided to take a nap, and I eneded up sleeping for five hours. After I woke, I had my last meal for the day (one-and-a-half cans of the delicious vanilla canned joy) and began writing this update. On a side note, I’m out of pain medication at the moment (since my three physicians are playing musical write-up to determine whose turn it is to prescribe something) – truly a joy, let me assure you, since my joints are still aching from the chemotherapy – so I’m cranky on top of everything else. That being the case, dear reader, I shall sign off for the evening. More to come, when my condition and my mood improve.
Until then, take care of each other.
Be well.
