Barb, one more cliche-"when the going gets tough, the tough get going" Keep fighting, you are needed, gal. Amy

Oh man I didn't know antibiotics would cause thrush. UGH! It must be like the vaginal infection you can get from taking a stron antibiotic for another infection. Geeze what a two edged sword.

I think Dr. Levy better have plenty of time for me Monday because I certainly have a lot of questions for him this week. Oh well I am lucky I never had to go to the Barrett Center though I have read many good things about it even from the BDS site and some friends who were treated there I feel glad to be in the Kenwood rad center.

Sorry I am rambling on. I am taking extra care of my skin this weekend. Treating it with kid gloves so to speak. I really do not want to "break" with only a week and 1 more day of treatment.

Oh gosh Gary. Cancer stinks. I guess the rad goes everywhere in our necks is why you got the small infections huh? Now is this Diflucan perscription? Seems like every time they give me a script its a "formulary or non-formulary" and costs me more money as my co-pay goes up if its not generic. I am lucky to have insurance and I will never complain again everytime they raise my premiums so I am shutting up now.

Love you all,
Barb~

I reread this page and I am noticing I am repeating myself. Please forgive me. I am either 1. An emotional mess or 2. I suffer from oldtimers/CRS disease.

Barb,
That's exactly what it is.

The radiation is very penetrating. I lost the hair on my neck in 360 degrees permanently. The radiation also zaps the red blood cells during treatment passing through the carotid arteries and that doesn't help much (in addition to some chemos damaging the bone marrow - although not Cisplatin so much). The red blood cells replace themselves every 120 days. It was almost 2 years before my WBC got to wothin normal range.

I would exchange the kid gloves for latex ones!

The Diflucan would be prescription.

My insurance costs $1200/mo and my copay is $5. $10 for name brand prescriptions, chest x-rays and lab work and $50 for PET/CT or MRI scans.

I had these tiny moles on my neck which were barely noticible and now they are black! There seem to be more and more of them too. I hope they go away but I bet not. Just another crappy cancer thing.

OMG you poor man! My insurance is through the USPS as an annuitant from my late husband. That would be civil service. It costs me $140.00 a month. If he were alive it would be around $45.00 a month. Go figure. My generic meds are $10.00 and then the formulary is $20.00 and the non-formulary is $30.00 All my X-rays, scans, doctors, surgery and radiation treatments are paid in full. The meds they give me there such as the Biafine and the Vigilon pads are paid in full also.

I paid the ENT $10.00 for the first apointment and that was it other than the Miles, the cortisone, the Ambian and the Hydrocodone. The Xanax is from my primary care doctor.

I am never complaining again! Now what is this thing that my ear is hurting. Feels stopped up like it has water in it. Only one ear..the left one.

Gary,

i think it's extremely unfair that you lost your beard, but I still have to pluck mine!!! However, the hair I lost at the back of my head has grown back, so i should not complain.

Barb,
I had an earache of and on for a month after the radiation treatment. It never got really bad, and my ENT said it was nothing to worry about, although he did take a lot of time studying my ears with his little light. - I also actually had a vaginal infection at the same time I had thrush, all part of the same misery...
You know, moles do get darker when you get a suntan or burn, so I expect it's the same thing, and they'll probably turn lighter again when your neck heals.
Your venting reminded me of my whining messages last year, and how wonderful it was to hear from others who had survived the same thing. I am amazed at anybody, included myself, who can live through the treatments, returning day after day to be tortured, and even remaining grateful to all those people who developed the treatments, so we can live through all this, and survive. And the nurses, who try their best to be gentle and respectful while they torture us.

Helen,
And then there are some nurses who shouldn't be. What are they thinking about???
Leena

Leena the nurse said they will stay black. Ugh. Two many "beauty marks" are not a good thing.

Yeah' my ear hurts sometimes and sometimes not. It never lasts more than a day or two and then its fine for a week. How weird. Oh I gotta pluck my "beard" too. Seems like I have hair sprouting all over my chin. How weird is that? Maybe I may think seriously now of a circus job. Wadda ya think? hahahahahaha

Sorry but I am rowing on dry land tonight. Must be tired out.

hugs and blessings,
Barb~

Oh the nurse gave me some triple antibiotic cream. She says it will help the healing. I does feel better already. I still have most of the Hydrocodone left. I just do not like meds. If I can manage without them I am okay. The Hydo is left from when I had the surgey in May. The doc offered me any kind of pain killer I wanted today but I say no thank you. I can do it!
Blessings,
Barb~

I didn't lose my beard - at least nor all of it, but the hair on the neck was toasted. It also killed of of the skin tags and i think some moles as well. The hair follicles on my neck literally fell out.

Barb, I should have mentioned that the insurance bill is for my wife and I (I am 58 and she is 52) and now the company I work for picks up the bill every month as part of my compensation package.

Don't be a hero, pain will NOT make you heal faster. Pain management is an essential part of the healing process.

Ear pain is pretty typical when the eustacian tubes that drain into the throat get fried. They will regenerate in time. I had trouble hearing for a while - like I had a cold or something.

Well I am glad to hear your company picks up the slack. Health insurance if a must these days. My friend lives in Denmark and health care is free and so is education. Thing is taxes are around 40% of your income I believe she said, I'll have to ask her again to make sure, and sometimes you have to wait months to see a doctor unless its an emergency.

Her mother was visiting there from N.Y. a couple months ago and ate lobster and went into shock. She took her to emergency and they wouldn't even treat her until my friend drove home and grabbed her credit card since her mom was not a resident. It could be worse for us I recon.

Gary to tell you the truth my skin is only painful when it dries out, right before treatment mainly, since I have to take the Vigilon pad off. As long as I am slathered with cream and have a pad opn its really tolerable. If it ever goes over my threshold I will definately ask for the dope.

I wish my moles would fall off! They are gross looking. I am one of those people who have spent a lifetime taking care of my skin and now these tiny black moles are popping out all over my neck. They must have been there all along just not big enough to see.

Oh well my life is much more important than a mole so let the fun begin! : I am in rare form today even if my ear feels like it have water in it and my neck feels like a tree trunk. hahaahahahaha

God bless us everyone,
Barb~