June 3, 2011 - "I Don't See Any Cancer."

June 3, 2011 – “I Don’t See Any Cancer.”

I have to say I would love hearing that said to me for the next couple decades. “I don’t see any cancer” is what my RadDoc said to me after scoping my nose and throat on Thursday. Of course that only means there is nothing obvious there. I’ll take that as a win.

I want real food. I say I want real food only during those times when nausea isn’t the dominant feature of my existence. And that isn’t that often. The “Coke cure” continued to work for most of the week but I still wasn’t able to eat enough to keep from losing weight. The last day or so has been a little better. No visits to the “gastric return lane” but I’ve had moments when I wasn’t sure if that would continue.

I saw both docs this week and will see neither one of them next week as I just have to continue with recovery.  I just take each day hoping I feel better than the previous day. I was already told I won’t see much improvement for the 2 weeks after treatment and I’m now 10 days from my last chemo and 7 from my last radiation. More to go.

This morning my wife and I decided to experiment with oatmeal and the feeding tube. I was thinking if it was liquidy enough it would work. It didn’t. I was able to clean my tube and it was back to IsoSource. I also started taking in Boost and Ensure as well as I have plenty of those left too. I just need to “tube” five cans of this sludge per day but even more would be better. I’ve only done five cans three times. I believe I’ve now lost about fifteen pounds. I’m going to do more research on PEG tubes and normal food as I know some people live their entire lives with this thing sticking out of their gut. I’m also swallowing a bit more. I ate some of the oatmeal and then drank (actually drank) my Coke the normal way.  Several swallows of each and I was done. Then it was off to floss and brush. My teeth can decay quickly because of the lack of saliva so flossing, brushing, and fluoride treatments are a regular necessity.

Going forward it’s imperative that nausea dissipates to a point where I can stuff more food into my body. Also, throat pain should start decreasing allowing me to start to reduce pain meds. Then everything should work better.  Not yet though. Still heavily drugged.  It’s still a work in progress.