Ray,

As a former San Antonio resident, you are making me hungry. I think I would be happy if we could get breakfast tacos at Taco Cabana once in a while. What's your favorite Mexican restaurant in SA??

We are headed your way at the end of the month to celebrate our grandchild's birth! Mexican food, here we come!

Deb

[quote] It's not the same of course, but that's why having a pet or Quack Pack or whatever can be quite a help. [/quote]

I truly don't know what I would do without my pack to keep me going. They make me laugh and help me to stay active each day. I remember when I was in the hospital all I wanted was to come home and have my dogs with me for comfort. I have thought a couple of times that it would be nice to have someone to care for me too.


Be sure to have some Tex Mex for me too. I miss it.

Patty

Yes, I have watched many movies lately with two dogs in my lap. They have always enjoyed the days my wife or stay home a little under the weather. With me lately they have had a LOT of days where they aren't thrown outside for eight or nine hours.

UncleVern

We have 2 packs of dogs here, Schnauzers, the doggie door is a must. However at -10F with a high wind I cuss it a bit. After building a tight cedar fence and putting an electric fence setup on it, they have a huge secure yard to destroy, so much for my lawn, but they are happy.

The two truly indoor dogs spend every waking minute competing to see who gets the �dads�� lap and get me to do the "treats ritual" They sure kept me warm, and I try to take one with me up in the woods as a sleeping bag warmer and bear alarm. Summer IS coming!

Flocks too! We have a lot of adopted rehab birds. That includes an African Grey with just enough language skills to have a conversation with, when he is willing to talk.

Helping as a server admin on a chat network and all the projects I have tried to keep my hand in during my journey keeps me way too busy, if you want to call that entertained, to keep up.

Plugging away at life,

UncleVern

Hey Ray:

You sound like you are doing really well, all things considered. Don't be discouraged but it will take a relatively long time for things to return to relative normality...

My problems were complicated by a trach but your experience sounds very familiar. Tastes and textures seem all wrong at first but gradually begin to recover. Even now, for me, six months after the end of radiation, sweet tastes still don't seem right. I used to enjoy a lot of citrus fruit...not anymore, at least not yet.

I have been encouraged as tastes returned, albeit slowly. My RO has also been a big help, reminding me continually that healing is a long-term effort and that no side-effect should be considered permanent until at least a year has passed.

When I was at your stage, I went through a lot of chicken noodle soup! The next thing that worked was greasy noodles, followed by greasy eggs...yes, anything that tasted about the way I thought it should and that would slide down easily!

It took me about two months before I abandoned the PEG altogether but needed to spread my meals out, six small meals a day and each one still took far too long, but at least I was eating. Perhaps not healthy eating but it was eating. Each (re)discovered food was a small victory and my first (small) Quiznos sub eaten at one sitting was a celebration.

Good luck and keep it up!


Mark

I haven't posted in a couple weeks mainly because i have started to feel a lot better and have started working part time. My diet has progressed in this order: scrambled eggs, omelettes, mashed potatoes topped with either ground beef or turkey with gravy. Tuesday, one month after my treatment ended, I had meatloaf, spinach, jello and ice cream for lunch. My biggest and most varied meal in two months. Sine then i've had enchiladas and even a chicken fried chicken. So, those of you who are just completing your treatment, know that you will eat again.

It is still a little sore going down and doesn't taste exactly -like it did pre-treatment, but since my saliva thinned food has not tasted bad. I do notice and improvement every day.

My next step in this ordeal is to get my CT scan on mar. 24th and see where i stand and if i need follow up surgery on my lymph nodes. The lump I had has shrunk and is now very small. i probably would not be able to find it if i had not gone through this.

Again, thanks for all your input.

Way to go Ray and just remember you have a long recovery ahead of you and everything will continue to improve. I was noticing improvements until the 2 year mark.

It's been a month now since i've posted or viewed the site. I have improved greatly in stamina and what i can eat. Would have posted sooner but my father-in-law died at age 91. He was a great guy and fortunately i was feeling good enough about the time he started going downhill to help with a lot during the funeral.

I got some great news march 27 that my CT scan came back 'excellent' according to my doctor. No sign of cancer and I don't need follow up surgery. This made for an excellent weekend. I have a follow up appointment in May and will probably get a PET scan at that time. If that is clear, and it will be, I will get this *#@!* PEG removed.

I need to find out some things to report to this forum. I knew the tumor on my tongue was 1.5 cm but wasn't sure of the size of my lymph node tumor. It seems they told me 4.5 cm when they first found it about six weeks before treatments started. I was told that the treatments will usually take care of lymph node tumors up to 3 cm which made me think i would need the surgery. I know my tumor was larger than that.

Trial Study
I was on a trial study that entailed taking both erbetux and cisplatin along with the radiation. That may have helped with the larger tumor. I'm anxious to see the results of the trial which may take a couple years. I do know that because I was on trial study they will be monitoring me forever, which fine with me.

I know a lot of you are in treatment or just finishing up and are wondering how long it will take for eating, strength etc. Here are some things about me at two months after my last chemo/rad treatment

Singing (i noticed this being discussed on another thread)
I play guitar and sing. Having the tumor on my tongue made me fear not only not being able to sing, but not being able to talk. Although I can't sing but two or three songs without thick saliva starting to build up in my throat, I can sing. Can't hit some of the higher notes, but i've seen improvement and feel I will be alright in this dept.

Stamina
Daily routine things like walking, shopping etc are no longer a problem. At this point i can't pick up a 50 pound sack of horse feed and carry it under one arm. Hay bales seem a lot heavier than they were 6 months ago too.

Eating
I have noticed i can eat without drinking as much water to wash my food down. I sometimes have a little discomfort in the roof of my mouth and BOT. Usually when I try to swallow too big of a bite. I can eat chips and salsa, but it's a too muuch of a hassle to deal with right now. Spicy foods no longer burn my throat, but i can't really taste them so i don't bother.

Speaking of Taste
Food no longer tastes bad as it once did. I'm pretty sure that's because my saliva has calmed down. I think my salivary glands are healing and blame the original bad taste on dead cells being excreted through them. Food still does not taste the same. Melted cheese, like on Mexican food, goes down real easy. This is good living in South Texas. But, it doesn't taste as good as it once did, but again, it tastes better now than it did ten days ago.

Exercising
I ran on a treadmill,did situps and lifted weights before this and have done some exercising but have found my muscles start to tighten up before i break a sweat. Not wanting to push it, i quit at that point. But, i will get there and plan on running in some of the cancer 5Ks in San Antonio when they have them.

Run Forest run. LOL I am glad for you Ray, very glad
Must be the bof of chocolates.

That is great news Ray....glad to hear that things are improving for you!!!