Week number 6 is done....Tick......Tock......Tick.....Tock..

May 24, 2011 – 2:30 PM – Tick…..…….Tock…………..Tick………….Tock

What does the 6^th week of treatment feel like? The slowest week of my life! Time has just dragged on as each day couldn’t come soon enough. Most of the week I was just feeling lousy. This was mostly because my stomach churned, flipped, flopped, squiggled, girgled, gargoyled, spun, turned, triangulated and generally made me feel like crap most of the time.

I’m now done with week 6 with 6 more RadDoc visits (2 on Friday to finish!!) and one Chemo on Tuesday. But I won’t be done by any means. I have to wait for all the “healing” to continue which will mean more flip flopping stomachs and constant fatigue. I also have to learn to eat again and that means chewing and swallowing real food to a level where I no longer lose weight. Then I can get rid of this life saving feeding tube. I’m told it will be months for that. I think that will depend on pain levels in my throat as well as adjusting to limited saliva production and getting an appetite back. Despite essentially starving, I’m never hungry – only achy, churny, icky, bleahhhhhhh.

On the good side, my pain patches seem to be doing the job even as they contribute to my generally grogginess and indifference to everything. I don’t have to take any “breakthrough” meds because of increased pain. I can’t imagine how much pain I’d be in if it wasn’t for these narcotics; I don’t want to ever know.

My chemoDoc techs tell me I’m doing extremely well as some people can’t handle this many chemo treatments (6 so far). I’m not anemic and my immune system is still functioning and that doesn’t always happen I guess. Everyone involved says I’m doing great but, like pain, I don’t want to know how someone NOT doing well is feeling. I’ll take their word for it.

And then there’s my skin. Much of the left side of my neck has layers of skin peeling away from the radiation; I’ll be super sensitive to sun for life. I coat my neck with 10W40 motor oil to keep it moist (ok, it just feels like 10W40; maybe it’s 10W30). I’ll have nice new pink skin at some point. The skin problem is really only a nuisance.

So now I have the rest of today and another boring weekend to endure and then on to the finish line of week number 7! At least after Friday I’ll be done with the Hannibal Lecter mask but I still may go to ChemoDoc for extra steroids and fluids. I may also receive anti-nausea drugs as the chemo takes its good old time leaving my body. So until next time….zzzzzzzzzzzzz.