Exactly four weeks since I finished and several things have happened. I've recovered some taste, lost the horrible muddy taste and have started to eat soups and soft foods like spaghetti. I still don't enjoy these foods but they're bearable, I'm hungry and it's progress. My formula thick-shakes ARE starting to taste good because sweetness was always one of my residual senses of taste.

The trismus seems to have eased a bit, making it easier to brush my teeth and my energy levels are getting back to normal. I can mow my little lawn and walk for 40 minutes.

On the other hand the swelling (on the inside), tightness, tingling and numbness in the operated and radiated side of my face/mouth has become a bit more intrusive. It's not a constant sense of discomfort, waxing and waning as the day goes on, but quite a horrible sensation. I get outbreaks of pain in the area too: comes and goes.

Mentally/emotionally I've been up and down. I'm working on that. I've ordered a recommended book called "Full Catastrophe Living" and intend to learn more about relaxation and mindfulness, living in the now.

Hi Alpaca,

My favorite author/teacher is a Vietnamese Monk by the name of Tich Nhat Hanh, is very probably the last word on the two subjects; Mindfulness and settling the agitated mind.

Here's a link to his wiki, a list of his writings is on that page. You can click on #5, Writings, to get to that list.

The Miracle of Mindfulness, Rider Books, 1991, ISBN 978-0-7126-4787-8

And another closely associated with the one above.

Finally, here's his main Wiki link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Nh%E1%BA%A5t_H%E1%BA%A1nh

Good Luck, Alpaca. You're one terrific Caregiver and I am proud to know you!

Bart

Touching Peace: Practicing the Art of Mindful Living, Parallax Press, 1992, ISBN 0-938077-57-0

Oh Shoot, I forgot that pasting URLs is an No-No! Mea culpa! Sorry ChristineB, it was unintential.

Bart

Thank you Bart. I'm definitely going to read the Miracle of Mindfulness.

Congrats. I noticed my first taste improvement at 4 months also. First year of recovery is tough but it does get better from here on out.

Congrats Alpaca on treatment completion. And now the rest of the journey begins. I had very few problems during treatment so I thought post treatment would be easy too ... boy was I ever wrong.

You started getting taste back much earlier than I. Don't assume it will stay that way, as we all have ups and downs, none of this recovery stuff is linear. I didn't have any trismus, but I did hold on to mucositis for a month or more after rads ended. It's just all so different for all of us.

Still, we're all glad to count you in the survivor's group.

Keep fighting
Tony