Wow oh Wow!

Friday when we went in for Hubby's 28th rad we also had our weekly meet with his RO. Suddenly out of the blue he tells us, " well you must be excited, only 3 more to go!" I think both our jaws hit the ground. We were stunned! Of coarse all the questions started flying. He just grinned and told us nope 31 that's all. 37 was the max number he would have gotten but when the treatment plan was drawn up 31 was the number! Wow! Silly us, we never asked after the profile and plan had been done exactly how many it was gonna be.

Anyway. Were done! Were DONE! He had his last rad this afternoon and his last Chemo was Monday! and thank goodness for that. The cisplatin really does cause a lot more nausea then the taxol,carbo he was on. I'm so glad he only had to have two cisplatin.

So now were gearing up for the recovery phase. I already told him I'm not gonna let things get lax around here yet. He still needs to push those fluids and get all his cals for the day. ~giggle~. I'm not quite done "torturing" him yet either with skin care and all. He's made it through all this without any blisters to his neck and the redness is minimal. I still plan to treat his neck every day for ~shrug~ I'm not too sure maybe next 4 days? Will the burning effects from radiation be done by then? I figured I'd play it by ear and just keep "Lindi'ng" him as we call it, until the redness starts to fade more.
I don't know if anyone else has tried the Lindi(brand name) cooler rolls? We've been using them from the start. Hubby hasn't had any blisters, or weepy skin and he's red like a day at the beach with no sunscreen but not that dark raw almost purple red I've seen some folks with. His skin is well hydrated and he's had no problems with dry,chapped,flaky,weepy skin or raw areas either. I'd highly recommend it! It's been very soothing for him. We use them right after TX and then again before bed and once more in the morning when he wakes up. I'm no expert on how most radiation burns look like or the skin problems that radiation patients go thru but all the nurses and Dr.'s have commented over and over again how good his neck looks. So I believe the Lindi rolls have made a significant difference. They seem to notice anyway. Oh! and insurance pays for them too.

OK, I'm starting to ramble. Sorry folks. Just so happy we can concentrate on recovery now without the daily curve ball of radiation and the weekly chemo.

~Ija~


Ija wife-husband 47y healthy nonsmoker,nvr chewed.Dx SCC 01/05 primary left anterior toungue w/2 surgeries 02/05 no rad/chemo recurrence 12/07 no rad/chemo. 07/08/08 modified lt radical neck disection 3 nodes removed 2 pos SCC. TX 090808 taxol & carboplatinx7 radx37 w/ethyol.