Over the course of the last week, a number of people have expressed surprise that I am able to eat a little bit and I couldn't figure out why the surprise, I mean after all, I had a whole post about it right here on this blog. So I checked the blog...and to my shock and surprise, no post! I was sure there was a problem with the website or the internet was broken, or something, but no, turns out, it was me. Yep, user error...I wrote a great post after my last appointment with the surgeon, all about how I was cleared to eat soft foods...and then I neglected to publish it! Worse than that, I somehow managed to delete it while simultaneously not posting. I think I will blame it on the cancer...because from now on anything that goes wrong is the cancer's fault! I promise to try to be more vigilant about which buttons I push. Save and publish, save and publish, save and publish.
Okay, moving on. The past three weeks, since my last surgery, have been pretty awesome. This is truly the best I have felt in months. I am trying to make the most of this time. I know once I start radiation, life will make a dramatic shift. Feeling good is actually the reason I haven't posted much. Seriously, I am just too busy to sit down at the computer. I have been out and about, running errands, playing Mom taxi, organizing things around the house. I almost feel like the old me, except with a trach, a feeding tube, and much more time on my hands than usual. We have been in this house for almost a year and for much of that time, our combined office/craft room space has simply been a holding room for other things. At one point, I think there were more than 50 boxes stacked in this space. It isn't that big a space! So I set a goal...by April 23rd, I want to have this room completely organized and ready to be used. Why April 23rd? Simple...April 24th is our one year anniversary of moving into the house and I want to be able to say that it took me less than a year to get the craft room done. Bragging rights and all that. (We aren't going to mention the boxes and boxes of pictures stacked in the back of the playroom or the nightmare that is the garage...it's tough to combine two households!!!)
The big news from the post that I deleted instead of publishing was my reintroduction to the world of food. I was so excited when I passed my swallow test and the doc declared me ready for (soft) food. My back teeth still don't touch, so I am limited to things I don't have to chew, but I am getting really creative! I started with pudding and mashed potatoes (yes, in that order!) and have worked my way up to scrambled eggs with really, really finely chopped up turkey and cheese and even very soft matzah brei. And I discovered that matzah balls are the perfect consistency for life without chewing! I just couldn't miss all my Passover treats!
Yesterday was my third appointment with the Radiation Oncologist. The first time I saw her was the day before my first surgery, in order to confirm that surgery and then radiation was the right path. The second time I saw her was the beginning of February, when she was completely shocked and dismayed to see how gigantic my tongue still was and to give me an overwhelming amount of information about the radiation process. The appointment yesterday was also filled with an overwhelming amount of information, but at least this time I was prepared for it, having done a lot of reading. My RO is very sweet, very polite, but direct. She didn't say it exactly this way (I mentioned that she was polite, right?) but she basically told me that the next several months are going to SUCK! We talked about the process, side effects, future implications, and so on and so forth. I will get into all that at a later time. Right now I am burying my head in the sand and not quite ready to face all that reality.
I think that is enough updating for now. I've got to get back to work on the craft room...April 23rd is approaching fast!
Sparkles and love to you all,
Gayle
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