I've lost track of when my radiation ends. I know they snuck an extra couple of days in on me due to the time off I had in the middle. There's either one day or two days left. I've already finished the chemo treatments, so it's time to let the healing begin.
One doctor said my throat can start healing in a week or two and the healing can be surprisingly rapid. Another doctor says I should expect four to six weeks before I can eat again.
The tracheotomy tube gets changed for a more comfortable one in a week or two. That's the time frame I was expecting for having the opening sewn up, but they want to leave the tracheotomy there until all the swelling in my throat is gone.
I'm going to be totally dependent on the feeding tube for at least a couple of weeks and I expect it will be 3 or 4 weeks before I will be able to eat anything substantial by swallowing it. I've got 8 or 10 pounds I need to gain and it's really hard to do that on a feeding tube.
A Chinese buffet or a Tex-Mex meal seems like such a treat. Unfortunately, it will be months before I will be able to taste things completely. That makes it hard to enjoy eating.
It's been 5 months since I was diagnosed. In those 5 months there have been about 4 doctors taking turns at seeing how bad they can make me feel and how close they can come to killing me. I've mostly had great quality and highly skilled doctors who are very good at what they do. Unfortunately, pain and discomfort are a big part of what they do. They're VERY GOOD at it.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
I Guess I Deserved an Uneventful Week
Not much of interest or significance happened last week, except for knocking one more week off the treatment phase.
I'm down to under 2 weeks of radiation and one chemo treatment, and then this phase is done. I've been able to take some food through my mouth and I've actually gained about 2 pounds by supplementing the liquid food that way. I'm still down 14 pounds from when all this started, but I'd like about 8 of that to stay away. That means I'd have to start exercising after the treatments are done, so I guess I'll probably just gain it all back.
They've started a new method of radiating my neck. They're going from different angles to minimize damage to stuff they don't want to injure - like my spinal column. The new angles are hitting new spots in my throat, so I'm getting the sore throat in new places. I doubt I'll be able to take any food by mouth after this week. After the radiation is done there will be a couple of weeks of healing before I can consider moving all my eating to my mouth instead of that damn feeding tube.
There was some good news this week. There is absolutely no indication of any recurrence and absolutely no indication of any new growth, spread, or metastasis of any of my original cancer. One of the problem patterns for this type of cancer is that surgery and treatment never get it cleaned up to the point I'm at. If the cancer is still active after surgery and treatments, it's pretty much a downhill fight for a couple of years.
Another piece of good news. I already knew that recovery time for my treatments is considered a year. I was told that eating should return to pre-treatment ease, taste, and swallowing in that year. That was an area that had potential to be permanent, so I was really happy to hear that.
My strength and stamina are improving at a decent pace. I'm going through 1,600 - 2,400 calories a day and not getting much exercise. I guess some of that food is storing up energy in what muscles I have left. This would be a great opportunity to do some exercise, move more food energy into muscle energy, kick my metabolism up a notch, keep some weight off, and a bunch of other great things I could do for my body. I'm afraid my earlier comment about exercise will still win out over even all these advantages.
I'm down to under 2 weeks of radiation and one chemo treatment, and then this phase is done. I've been able to take some food through my mouth and I've actually gained about 2 pounds by supplementing the liquid food that way. I'm still down 14 pounds from when all this started, but I'd like about 8 of that to stay away. That means I'd have to start exercising after the treatments are done, so I guess I'll probably just gain it all back.
They've started a new method of radiating my neck. They're going from different angles to minimize damage to stuff they don't want to injure - like my spinal column. The new angles are hitting new spots in my throat, so I'm getting the sore throat in new places. I doubt I'll be able to take any food by mouth after this week. After the radiation is done there will be a couple of weeks of healing before I can consider moving all my eating to my mouth instead of that damn feeding tube.
There was some good news this week. There is absolutely no indication of any recurrence and absolutely no indication of any new growth, spread, or metastasis of any of my original cancer. One of the problem patterns for this type of cancer is that surgery and treatment never get it cleaned up to the point I'm at. If the cancer is still active after surgery and treatments, it's pretty much a downhill fight for a couple of years.
Another piece of good news. I already knew that recovery time for my treatments is considered a year. I was told that eating should return to pre-treatment ease, taste, and swallowing in that year. That was an area that had potential to be permanent, so I was really happy to hear that.
My strength and stamina are improving at a decent pace. I'm going through 1,600 - 2,400 calories a day and not getting much exercise. I guess some of that food is storing up energy in what muscles I have left. This would be a great opportunity to do some exercise, move more food energy into muscle energy, kick my metabolism up a notch, keep some weight off, and a bunch of other great things I could do for my body. I'm afraid my earlier comment about exercise will still win out over even all these advantages.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Speaking of Tough Weeks
There was a complication in my surgery to have the feeding tube inserted. The complication was having my heart and breathing stop, my throat swell shut, calling EMS to revive me in an operating room, and then transport me through a couple of parking lots at Wesley to get to the ER, so the doctors could finish saving my life and inserting the feeding tube.
Yes, I died from having a feeding tube inserted. I'd rather not go into all the details, because there is some inevitable "he said, she said" stuff in there. The only thing I'm certain of is that I was given a sedative that has killed me before, and I wasn't wearing an allergy bracelet when I finally came to after the surgery. That's the first surgery I've had that didn't have the bright red allergy bracelet.
I've recovered from death pretty well. I might point out that when the firemen show up and you're not breathing and your heart isn't beating, they don't seem to care much if they hurt you while getting that stuff going again. I have some sore ribs and my chest is on the tender side. It's not like screaming in agony to do a situp, but that's not far removed from where I'm at.
That led to the tracheotomy. I have this wonderful hole in my throat that lets air go straight into my lungs without going through my throat. That hole will remain there until all the chemo and radiation treatments are done.
At about this point in the whole process, the doctors began working on why I went "code blue". They had me breathing, an airway opened, and my heart was beating. They called in heart specialists. Nothing wrong with my heart. They called in lung specialists. Nothing wrong with my lungs. At least I got some free checkups. Eventually they figured out it was an allergy to sodium pentathol. This is the second time I've died on an operating table when sodium pentathol was involved.
I'm healed up pretty well again. I start back up with radiation and chemo next Monday (July 13). There are 3 weeks of that left.
I'm on a feeding tube, which pretty much restricts my mobility. I have a humidity-producing machine that I use a couple of hours a day to try to keep my lungs hydrated. My lungs are producing a lot of "stuff" that I have to cough up. If my lungs get too dry, that coughing gets pretty difficult and painful. The sound of that machine is like running an air compressor inside the house.
Right now I've got 3 weeks of treatments and pretty much being restricted to my couch. After that, I get the feeding tube out, the trach closed up, the catheter removed (that they're using in place of cozens of IV insertions spots). Then I should be on the road to getting back to "normal". It's been an ordeal so far.
Yes, I died from having a feeding tube inserted. I'd rather not go into all the details, because there is some inevitable "he said, she said" stuff in there. The only thing I'm certain of is that I was given a sedative that has killed me before, and I wasn't wearing an allergy bracelet when I finally came to after the surgery. That's the first surgery I've had that didn't have the bright red allergy bracelet.
I've recovered from death pretty well. I might point out that when the firemen show up and you're not breathing and your heart isn't beating, they don't seem to care much if they hurt you while getting that stuff going again. I have some sore ribs and my chest is on the tender side. It's not like screaming in agony to do a situp, but that's not far removed from where I'm at.
That led to the tracheotomy. I have this wonderful hole in my throat that lets air go straight into my lungs without going through my throat. That hole will remain there until all the chemo and radiation treatments are done.
At about this point in the whole process, the doctors began working on why I went "code blue". They had me breathing, an airway opened, and my heart was beating. They called in heart specialists. Nothing wrong with my heart. They called in lung specialists. Nothing wrong with my lungs. At least I got some free checkups. Eventually they figured out it was an allergy to sodium pentathol. This is the second time I've died on an operating table when sodium pentathol was involved.
I'm healed up pretty well again. I start back up with radiation and chemo next Monday (July 13). There are 3 weeks of that left.
I'm on a feeding tube, which pretty much restricts my mobility. I have a humidity-producing machine that I use a couple of hours a day to try to keep my lungs hydrated. My lungs are producing a lot of "stuff" that I have to cough up. If my lungs get too dry, that coughing gets pretty difficult and painful. The sound of that machine is like running an air compressor inside the house.
Right now I've got 3 weeks of treatments and pretty much being restricted to my couch. After that, I get the feeding tube out, the trach closed up, the catheter removed (that they're using in place of cozens of IV insertions spots). Then I should be on the road to getting back to "normal". It's been an ordeal so far.
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