Meet Teddy!

Greetings!

Teddy Radiation Shooters


OK...I've held off long enough but have the backing & support of my BFAC supporters to launch the official 'Who the heck is Teddy' pictures.

They finally show what we've been up against all along.  And it wasn't pretty or fun.  Feel free to leave now if you're squeemish...unfortunately, we didn't have that choice so please stick around.





Teddy - Being taken away!
For those who remember
our earlier garden gnome
comment!



As much as we have spoke of our battle all along of being up against Teddy, I also believe the fact that without him things would have been much different (sorry TJE!).  Had Teddy not shown his 'ugly' face, Ken would have been subjected to several rounds of 10 days of antibiotics followed by a week to see if it worked, followed by another round of something different and then again another round.  And yet another of 'oh it's just a sore throat'.  But, because he stuck out his 'head' and said hello, the Doctors had no choice but to accept that something was definitely wrong.  The pictures also show how agressive he was.  As I've mentioned in previous posts, I used these and many pictures to convince the Doctors to move quickly and as you've read, they did.  To that I am very thankful.



So...here goes.  Put on your seatbelts and keep your hands and feet inside the car during the ride and hang on tight.  Flash photography is allowed.!! 

This is what Stage 3 tonsil cancer has to offer.



Teddy - 11/02/11
1st visit to Dr. Conlin
Cute little blister! back left



Teddy - 11/06/11
See how fast he's growing!
Day before biopsy surgery.
Doesn't he look like he has an Angel
head and wings?!



Teddy - 11/08/11
Day after biopsy.
Black is from cauterizing because of
low platelet count to stop bleeding.
Starting to push over epiglottis into throat
so worried about breathing.

Teddy's Butt - from inside Ken's throat
using Mr. Endoscope - much prettier!
Horseshoe shape thingy has to do with
his larynx and looks good.  2 slits above
that are his vocal cords - they get lots
of work during a normal day :)

Teddy - 12/03/11
Day before treatments
Nasty dude!

Teddy - 12/07/11
After 1 chemo and 2 rad. treatments!
Hah!! Take that!



Teddy - 01/17/12
1 week of treatments left.
Painful thrush infection. and
radiation burns.
But look at Teddy on the left!



Teddy - 01/31/12
1 week after treatments.
Most red spots are burns.
But...Teddy looks all sealed over!

Teddy - 02/29/12 - RIP??!!
Look at the Angelic sunrays above
him per my initial comment of him :)
Tongue is actually getting a healthy
colour again too - hence the taste
buds returning!

So there you have it!  17 weeks of Teddy's short life.  Yes...I said 17.  Time flies...thankfully.  And that's from his 1st knock at the door - welcome less than a telemarketer at dinnertime.  We're sure he was manifesting much long before that.  Not a rollercoaster fan anymore.  I've had my share of this ride.  The numbness can wear off any time now thank you very much.

Thanks to N (aka LOTL) at BFAC for giving me the voice and to know it was time.  Cheers to you.

xx
S



5 Weeks Post Treatment

Here is a summary of where we are at in a nutshell after 5 weeks:

Chemo – graduated 3 weeks ago – very impressed with progress and skin condition (go Ally). No future appointments!

Radiation – 1^st follow up appointment this Friday, March 2^nd to see how things have healed

Teeth – appointment this Friday too, a few struggles with the nightly fluoride tray routine, and a couple of teeth have little chips out of them so get to figure that out.  Future appointments every 3 months for 5 years!

Hair – lost a strip between earlobes at the back (starting to come back), eyelashes have thinned out, hair on back of hands & fingers gone, facial hair all gone now - shaved off the last recently - never seen Kenny without it!! Only need to shave on the sides for now - nice baby soft skin!  

Skin – thanks to our aloe vera habit, very very nice and soft.  Looks like a nice tropical tan – wish it was!

Hydration – hard to control, always need a water bottle nearby

Mouth – a few lingering mouth sores, Teddy’s peep hole looks good and closed over

Voice - much better than the whisper it got too, only gets raspy when he talks too much (which is a lot - hee)

Nausea -  none

Tossing cookies – only once in Emerg when they gave 2 Tylenol & 3 Advil to get the fever down

Pain – Always a mild sore throat

Medication – off all the heavy duty stuff, occasional Tylenol or Ibuprofin

General well-being feeling – Good days & bad days, good mornings & bad mornings, naps are good (but we should all do that)

Weight – since 1^st day of treatment Dec.5^th/11 – most dropped is 11 pounds (but had lost a bit more before treatment)

Food – still need the Ensure every day, porridge & fruit to start the day, soup is good, anything else has to be very moist and/or mushy – need lots of water to get things down

Taste buds – slowly noticing improvements – some foods sting (eg. mustard & summer sausage – had to try!)

Blog Comments – Appreciated

E-mail / Text Support - Great to hear from people who don’t do the blog thing

Spiritual Support – We can’t have the resentment mentality of why us/why now.  That resolves nothing.  The ‘everything happening for a reason’ phrase is a little hard to take some days.  So we look to learn from the lesson presented and pay it forward to others.

xx

S

World Cancer Day - February 4th

Feb. 4th is World Cancer Day! Thanks to everyone fighting in our corner.

Check out the videos here...phew!!

http://www.fightback.ca/

xx

S

So now what?

Well, we did it!  We are now 1 week past radiation treatments and that great RING THAT BELL moment.  It has been a normal rollercoaster ride / one-step forward / two-steps back kind of week for us. 

Ken’s had a butt kicking.  From what we’ve seen and read there’s a lot worse out there we could have had.  He’s tough and kicked right back.  Radiation effects keep going for about 4 weeks.  Healing starts before then once your body realizes you’re not zapping it every day!  Ken’s throat and mouth sores are getting better but are still challending.  Keeping on top of pain management is time consuming to do and document.  At times it’s confusing for what to use for what symptom.   Sleeping is broken due to the mucous that develops as his throat is healing.  The body produces more mucous to do so.  As the saliva glands were compromised during treatment it’s thicker.   Ken has to ‘get rid of it’ several times during the night.  He kind of gurgled in his sleep for a while so I slept lightly keeping an eye on my patient!  I’ve put a cold air humidifier in the bedroom.  This helps a lot and I’m getting used to its sound.   We had a few days that were hard to get Ensure and water into him so his weight dipped a bit.  That is better now and porridge is back on the menu too.  A fever spike on the weekend led us to getting an antibiotic in case there was an infection.  This was nice to get as last time we had it in December, it cleared up the mouth sores.   His voice that he loves to use is soft & raspy.  What a great reason to have someone whisper in my ear!  I say ‘pardon’ a lot.  It's funny to notice when someone whispers you tend to whisper back.  It has definitely improved in a short time. 

Kenny emerged today just like the groundhog ready for spring to be just around the corner.  We will at some point learn to adjust to the ‘new normal’.  It’s up to us to re-define how that looks.  What was has changed.  For now, we’re not there yet.  We are glad to be done the London commute everyday and be done with the zaps for sure.  

 As mentioned in an earlier post we have follow up appointments with Dr. Kuruvilla (Chemotherapy Doctor) this month to check blood work / Dr. Read (Radiation Doctor) in March.  That gives Ken’s mouth and throat time to heal and see how things look and feel.  From what we are excited to see, the Teddy ‘site’ is healing over nicely.  The Doctors also couldn’t feel Lenny from a neck exam.  A scan is only done if something doesn’t look right.  At this stage, it would be too soon and only show swelling and scar tissue as things heal.  That could alarm some to thinking it was the tumour still hanging around.  So…

To answer the question at the start:  So now what?  Unfortunately, the chapter we just closed doesn’t have a magic cure button…time to heal.  Time to wait and see. 

xx

S