Welcome to Hard Times

I say we got trouble, we got trouble right here in River City and that trouble starts with P and ends in N and that trouble is P-A-I-N. Wow, it hit yesterday with a vengeance. My mouth is hosting a party; mouth sores, throat sores and stringy mucous. If you think that sounds disgusting, think about it being in my mouth. Aw shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. That sums it up. By the way, shit is a great word, it covers most parts of speech and expresses every human emotion. If this troubles you, then tough shit. But I seriously digress.I have some real pain. However, I do have an arsenal of medication with which to deal with it. The most troubling thing is that it just started and it is here for the duration which means FOUR MORE WEEKS! I'm a wimp. What more can I say?

The pain visitation occured yesterday around 12:00. The niggling thought turned full fledged and I don't deal with pain well. I had a little lunch, a bowl of soup and that was about it. I struggled to get down two bottles of the dreaded water and decided to do my fluoride treatment as at least I wasn't nauseous. Things did not improve and by dinner time I had a good idea of what I would be in for. Nurse "R" was at work so I had a shake for dinner. Chocolate Ensure, half a pint of soy ice cream and six large strawberries. I didn't need the strawberries as they added nothing.. I managed to get down another bottle of water and that was it for the day.

Last night I had thoughts of suspended animation and re-animation but decided it wouldn't work, so I plotted my strategy for dealing with this problem. I may be a wimp but it is NOT going to defeat me. I have my swish and swallow throat numbing elixer, my pain medication and my anti nausea pills. I figure as long as I can take sustenance I will be okay; that and water.Ugh! So, that is my short term goal.

Now I have to get dressed for my 8:00 appointment with the Big Zapper. Day number 11 is about to start.

I have just returned from my 8:00 Radiation appointmnet. Today they took placement X-rays to make certain I am in the right position on the table. I am. I was also given my new schedule and I am finished on 10/30.This means double doses on the 27th, 28th and 29th, but come Friday the 30th I will be done, medium well, but I'll take it.

I had my meeting with Dr. Beadle and she told me I was right on schedule as far as the side effects were concerned. She also told me what I had already suspected, that it would get worse before it gets better. She said I should probably start taking the pain medicine by the end of the week. She also said I would graduate to a pain patch which delivers the medicine without any intervention from me. It's good to know that when you are feeling poorly its going to get worse. That really made my day. I stopped off on the way home and got some chicken noodle soup sans chicken but it was practically tasteless. This is also not a good sign. I called Dr. Chambers, the dental oncologist and told him the fluoride was making me sick. He was really great, he apologized for that and said he would phone in another prescription for a different fluoride treatment to my drugstore. The doctors there are really accessible and they seem to care about the patient's comfort or lack thereof. I think I'll do a rinse. Why is it that I have no trouble tasting that?