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