Hi everybody! I haven't posted lately, but have been lurking around the board. The last couple of weeks I realized how well I'm wolfing food down without much thought or stress. Just about anything goes. For example I made some beef stroganoff w/some stew meat instead of steak the other night & those little strips of beef we're pretty tough. Sure was good though! I just chewed on through & swallowed hard & it all went down! Maybe the sauce helps some. I guess my old programming has pretty much been replaced by the new file on how to eat! I just do it with out too much thought. The coughing & polite hacking through meals is just normal now I guess! Pardon me, but I sure burp long & loud now compared to before! Huge volumes of air! It's like Will Ferrel in "Elf" when he chugs the 2 liter bottle of pop! "Did you hear that?!!!" The new swallowing method involves using mouthfuls of air to push it down I guess! Hey, whatever works! I prewired a 6000 sq ft home by myself for a THX theater w/ceiling projector & whole house multi room audio this week - about 16 hours of countless trips up & down the ladder, drilling holes & pulling what seemed like a mile of cable. Now thats progress! I was obviously tired, but no sore muscles or anything! Considering last June I could hardly lift my right arm to rinse my arm pit in the shower from the neck dissection, 50 lbs in weight loss & a shriveled muscles I'm pretty happy! I'm up to about 190 from a low of 176, started at 225! Thanks to all for your encouragement & rooting! Hopefully this post can be encouraging to others that you can get through & flourish! Erik

Erik,
Great job dude. Sounds good. Loved that feeling. Keep thinking good thoughts. I talked to a guy on the phone when I was first diagnosed who had very similar cancer and treatment as you. He was the first person I talked with that put this in perspective and he was a 9 year survivor. It really helped.

The reason I remember that is he told me his jaw was on the operating room table as they re-built it. I thought that was cool.

I thought "if he can do it, so can I" and you too.

Good luck and god bless.
R,C,A,R,T,B,S, Hamilton

Eric, good news. Glad things are going so well for you. It sure feels good when things start to feel good. God bless and will keep you in my prayers.