3 down, 32 to go - Well, it seems like every treatment is different than before. Today, they just handed me all the dental rolls and said you know the drill, get busy. They did check them for proper placement.

Mask fit better in some areas and worse in others, particularly across the forehead. Overall, comfort level about same as yesterday. Sooner or later you realize it isn't going to get any better, so you just suck it up and say let's get started, which is exactly what they want to hear anyway.

It seems today took less time than previous two treatments.

Brekfast afterwards, eggs, sausage, biscuits, OJ sure did taste good. And that nap after geting back home is awfully nice too.

Knocking this thing out, one day at a time.

Interesting mask stories indeed. Mine goes all the way down to my chest and has a built in mouth piece that you bite on and that is the only thing they use - no extra ties, restrains etc. They even give me a nice cushion to put under my knees. Maybe tomotherapy machines are different.

Tony, you are doing great! Keep enjoying those good breakfasts.

Hi Tony,

You are right. May as well just get used to it. I was able to wiggle my head a tiny amount to find the most comfortable place. It was not a big deal as the machine I was on went very fast. There were days when I was on and off in 5 minutes. The scan took just a minute for each pass, back and forth.

Enjoy that meal while you can. At a minimum you will most likely lose your taste and find it hard to swallow. You'll get through it, just not much fun.

I'm just five months post and still will drop off for a nap now and then. Sure feel great.

don

4 down, and a great medical report - Well, I was going to wait until tomorrow to report after 5 treatments down, but Thursday is doctor day and too much good info to wait until tomorrow.

I had wondered if RO every compared the neck CT he did to the original CT done before surgery (the one that eventually located the enlarged lymph node). Sure enough, he had compared them and said his CT shows no swelling at all, ie back to normal size, so I'm restaging you T2N0, what you were originally. Wow, that alone made my day.

Then I asked more about my path report, invasive and moderately differentiated. All along this phrase has scared me. He said invasive is just a synomym for you have cancer. You are getting invasive and agressive mixed up and your tumor is NOT aggressive. Moderately differentiated tissue isn't the best, but it's not the worst either, so stop worrying.

So, I asked what will tell you that chemo is needed. He said if the radiation doesn't work and we won't know that for awhile. I then asked about the two small masses in the bottom of each lung to which he said everybody has something in there. You are scheduled for another chest CT in December, so sit tight and wait. You are making much more out of all this than you should be.

I said, hey I'm just being your normal patient asking all these questions. His reply, not you are not normal. Most of my patients don't want to know what they have or what is going on. You are just very curious. Keep on asking questions, I'll keep answering them.

Everything wasn't rosy - the dietician fussed a little because I had lost 2 pounds in last 18 days. She said, eat, eat all the time, eat 3 meals a day with snacks in between. Eat ice cream, eat dessert, I know your throat hurts, but eat anyway. the doc will give you a prescrip for a bigger bottle of oral lidocaine. Don't you come back in here next week having lost more weight.

I had just gone down one waist size on my jeans. She said that is not the way to do it. LOL.

Overall, a really good day for N74TG (we even came in 2nd in bridge).

thanks for enduring me guys
Tony

P.S. After all the recent discussion of manuka honey I asked the doc about it. He had never heard of it at all. He said since you're going to Walmart anyway pick up a gallon jug of consumable aloe vera liquid. Aloe vera has been through many medical trials and it's anti-inflammatory capabilities are well documented. Maybe someone will do a medical trial on manuka. I suppose I can kind of see why he would want to go with what he knows is successful. Still, I may buy some manuka anyway.

Great news Tony. I hear you on the nagging about the weight loss. I didn't get why a couple of pounds was such a big deal at first but the nutritionist said you'll stop losing fat weight and start losing lean muscle weight at some point. Of course I had chemo also which triggers that so I'd say you're doing pretty darn good at this point and have far less to worry about on that front. Keep up the good fight.

Tony,

It appears you and I are in the same "want to know everything" club. I think you signed up for my journal. Most have not the time, interest, or patience to wade through it all but early on I decided to journal every day as best I could. For those wanting to walk in the shoes front to end will collect many tips to easing the journey.

Just so you know how far I went into the research end was that I finally said enough once I understood what the dosimetrist and medical physicist did beyond the hardware and software used. I even had my RO a bit off guard when I asked him which software they were using for mapping and dosing. Did get quite a good bit of info on how painting works, contouring, etc. I made the point since no cancer crossed the midline, maybe he could review and adjust the rads hitting the salivary over there. Whether they made any further adjustment or not, my saliva production throughout was relatively good, low point maybe 50%. 5 months post it is 95% back. Just a few really dry breads and overcooked chicken breasts etc stuff my mouth up and require assistance from a glass of liquids.

Since you are getting rads, I am sure they have targeted all the direct areas and all other areas are painted but receive a lesser dose. The RO told me even though no cancer over the midline, they were going to paint 60 grays just in case of small undetectable cells.

Chemo can also kill microscopic cancer cells too. Even though the 3 cycles of TPF for 9 weeks really messed me up, it lets me sleep VERY well knowing there was a full assault to systematically kill any micro cancer anywhere else in my body.

You have a great warrior spirit; you'll be fine in the end, the trip gets pretty bumpy.

Don

Thanks Don - I can see I have come no where near the level of research you have done. Ironically, I used to work in industrial radiation so I actually understand a lot about it and particularly dosimetry. We did all our work with gamma and neutron radiation types, x-rays no matter how strong they are just didn't have the penetrating power we needed in the logging of oil and gas wells.

I'll see if I can hook up a meet with my dosimetrist, as I'd love to get a demo of the software he/she uses; that would be really cool.

Thanks for the heads up. I have plenty of reading on your blog left to do, but I'll get there.

take care
Tony

Had an epiphany today - With this case of is it strep or is it not strep sore throat that's been going on for a couple of weeks I haven't felt like doing much of anything. Whole days pass with me napping, then up for an hour, then another nap; no wonder my night sleep is so messed up.

I am building a house and it will be time soon to buy the insulation. I found out our local post office is getting a new roof of 2" thick industrial closed cell poly foam (good stuff). So I asked the roofer if I could have some of the old stuff. He said yes and even better he will bring it to my house to avoid city dump charges.

I'm going to post this and then continue because last time I tried this it never posted. I'll continue in next post

Needing about 100 sheets more than a truck load I asked if I could load my trailer from their pile; he said sure. so the last two days I have been hauling 20 sheets of 4x8 at a time to my house site.

Here's the epiphany, because I'm not thinking about it while working the throat doesn't hurt nearly as much. Epiphany #2 I have way more energy than I thought I had. It was actually nice to work up a sweat and get something productive done at the same time. I actually slept better last night than most nights, I expect same will occur tonight.

Yes, I'm only in week one of radiation and I'm sure it will get worse later, but even then I may not be totally worthless.

Thanks for indulging me guys.
Tony

I lost all my teeth 1 year post treatment. I had great teeth prior to Tx and it was just bad luck of the draw. Calories and water were never discussed with me, and I'd still have my teeth if they were. Listen/EAT/Water. It's all about that stuff
Fair winds and Following seas
Remember those three things.