Pam,

I remember you emailing me and I am so happy you are returning to school! If your 2 year college is like the one where I teach, you'll find that, although most of the students are very young, there are enough older ones like you that you won't be that big an oddity. And I can tell you from the professor's perspective, we love the older students like you who are there to really learn and have gotten the time management thing down in a way many 19 year olds have not.

It is good to learn I am not the only one with a sore stinging mouth most of the time (and Minnie, I carry lip balm with me everywhere and use it I don't know how many times a day or my lips get just as bad). Because sometimes I worry it's some kind of sign of a recurrence though my ENT did tell me I may just have this kind of mouth pain forever.

Thanks for the Gaucamole suggestion. I had forgotten about that. It's funny, I find I can tolerate soups and other things flavored with pepper (as long as it isn't super hot pepper) without it hurting. But, as you say Pam, sugary things can burn my mouth sometimes as well as anything at all acidic (and I used to LOVE vinegary things like olives and pickles--oh well).

Also one night something will work and the next it won't for some reason. I think I cooked the pastina a little less tonight so they were more al dente and didn't stick together as much and they kept going everywhere in my mouth, more like the problem I had with rice. It took me an hour to eat a small bowl of pastina with a mushroom gravy and some slightly melted boursin cheese with herbs and garlic. I had some pureed carrots I was going to eat but I was so tired I gave up and gave myself a can of Jevity and some berry juice through the tube just to be sure I got close to enough calories today. I'm a good weight right now--I have dropped 4 sizes from what I was pre-cancer(!)--and I don't want to get any skinnier. I'm tired of having to get new clothes and give away old ones that never even got worn much!

Anyway, thanks for the enouragement, Minnie and Pam, I really need it. My husband tries but he's kind of burned out on it himself.....

Nelie