DAY 64 - Another Day in Paradise

If one wishes to consider one's significance in the bigger scheme of things: focus on this picture for awhile.

Yesterday was the Semi-Halfway mark for my treatment plan. Day 16 of 35 of the radiation (today) but the second of my 3 chemo treatments. They give you lots of pills and I-V injections to fight nausea for the chemo. You sit in this huge over-sized lounge chair (just right for Hulk Hogan), hook you up to an I-V and install 3 drip bags that take 1 hour each. The first is medicine to fight nausea. The second is Cisplatin. This is the cancer-fighting drug. The third bag is a saline solution to keep you hydrated. Actually feel pretty good upon leaving - the next two days are not as cool, but ok. I had my daily radiation in the a.m., so I could make this 3-hour session. Had to put my tail bone on a rubber pad to be able to lie down on the metal tray. Improving, but still sore after body surfing down the stairs this week. Today I put a c-shaped neck cushion under my tail bone. That helped a lot.

August 26 is the last day of radiation and the 20th of August is the last day of chemo. This stuff is like a time release effect....so, other than not having to go in for treatment anymore (plus, plus, plus), the effects remain in place for several more months. I am not sure when I will start to get my taste buds back and can eat REAL food. I am hoping for Thanksgiving, but it may be Christmas (I hope). I go in for a C-SCAN to see if all this worked 3 months after treatment stops...just about Thanksgiving. That would definitely be something to give thanks for.

Dinner tonight was poached salmon with chive-parsley butter sauce, fresh tomatoes from our garden with goat cheese, steamed butternut squash, sliced fresh peaches and apples and cheddar cheese cubes, with fresh chilled watermelon for dessert. That was for the family. I had room temp. clam chowder run through a blender and Gatorade. Now you know how anxious I am to get my taste buds and swallowing mechanics back. My pleasure reading at the doctor office is the latest recipes from Sunset magazine.

Note: Saw two chemo patients in their 20's getting treatment while I was in. Another reason I am such a lucky guy. I have 60 years of great memories.

A song referral from my sister (who, by the way, dug up in my Mom's archives a slew of get-well cards from my third grade classmates, when I was out with the chicken pox.) It was all bound in decorative ugly purple wallpaper and she had cleverly pasted the word tonsil cancer over the words chicken pox throughout all the notes- about 20 cards. Very nice and a great nostalgia trip.

Peter McWilliams: "The simple solution for disappointment depression: Get up and get moving".


Song of the Day: Devo - Whip It