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