Well, it's been another busy few days. The throat pain, long anticipated and long dreaded started up intensely over the weekend. Swallowing has become a real chore and the inside of my mouth is so sensitive to acid that the only things I can eat must be warm, soft and salty. My vaunted blender is useless because smoothies burn the inside of my mouth and throat terribly.

I'm down to eating one "solid" meal a day, but still drinking liquids throughout to at least keep the throat in as much working order as I can. Man it hurts, though, and I',m not quite halfway through. The inside of my mouth is swollen up, which is kind of annoying.. I rinse continuously throughout the day, and I brush my teeth and the inside of my mouth 5-6 times daily, but given the internal swelling, I may be being too rough and think I will ease up a tiny bit on that. I'm still going to do it, but maybe I won't brush the skin as vigorously. That said, it doesn't appear I've developed any horrible bleeding ulcers yet, so that's good!

Question if anyone knows, though. You know those pouches on the inside of your cheeks, way in the back where your wisdom teeth are? They are swollen on both sides so badly that I can't close my teeth together because they are in the way. Does anyone have any magic remedies for shrinking those down a bit? Any advice would be appreciated.

Meanwhile, Monday is Cisplatin 2, delayed 4 days for my chemo oncologist's schedule, but happening nonetheless! As I told you all already, I know going in that that bastard is going to beat me down, so I think I'll come here and cry behind the screen of anonymity again.

I hope that everyone's journeys are progressing, and I appreciate so much those of you that continually take the time to respond to me and pick me up when I stumble, and remind me that this is but a moment, and a moment that I will survive and, in a weird way, appreciate. I see that this process really does change us a bit, and, so long as we hold dear the satisfaction of fighting the good fight, I think in a lot of ways this will change me for the better. Not the cancer, nor the treatment, but the outlook and experience -- I'm already different since diagnosis and I think I will be different still ere I next taste food properly!

Cheers,

The Hellion