Two More Days, No More Chemo!

Jeanette and I spent a long morning at the hospital yesterday. A big chunk of that time was spent waiting to have blood taken. Of course the computers went down, resulting in a room full of cranky patients staring at the unmoving take-a-number board for an hour. I could barely hold my head up and was sorely tempted to give up and come home. I'm glad I didn't.

Today we met with Dr. Chen, who announced that my blood work showed lightly low blood counts, and therefore I will NOT be undergoing the third dose of chemotherapy, which would have kept me in the hospital at least until Friday. This means my treatment will conclude after my last radiation therapy session this Thursday morning.

And it won't be a minute too soon. Today on the treatment table was the first time in 31 sessions that I had to ask them remove the mask soon after they strapped me in. The pressure from the mask exacerbated the goop in my throat and I started gagging. Not an activity I'd recommend when you're locked into an immobilization mask. Hopefully I'll fare better tomorrow and Thursday.

Meanwhile, the tongue pain has returned with a vengeance and brought with it a friend: an intensely sore throat. I'm all the happier to skip chemo because a raw throat is not a comfortable conduit for surging stomach acids. Heck, it hurts to even try swallowing water. I'm now on liquid codeine and 100% dependent on the tube for all my food and water intake.

Enough, I say. Let's get to the healing, dammit!