Sunday, June 16, 2019

The morning report

Okay, the first side effect has kicked in. The inside of my mouth and throat are swollen, sensitive and not very cooperative. Breathing is trickier and swallowing is more difficult. This was expected sooner or later.

I haven’t shared this to complain about my situation. It’s so others can learn what might occur if they were ever in a similar situation.

I’m supposed to be brushing and gargling several times a day and drinking ridiculous amounts of water. Those simple things are much harder now. To further complicate things, my epiglottis—the flap that keeps non-air out of my trachea—isn’t functioning at 100 percent. A pill went down the wrong way the other day. Not a happy experience.

So, yeah, there’s some anxiety about how much more difficult things will become. I’d be crazy to believe everything will be peachy. But my outlook is still positive.

5 comments:

  1. A positive attitude is a helpful healing aid. Good to hear you still have yours.

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  2. I look at the fact that you are communicating at all as a bright spot!

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  3. I'm confident the RST, is waiting patiently, anticipatory of future travels.

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  4. Thinking of you. I know I tried to keep up my journal as a way to fight back against the stigma of cancer when I was going through it. Mine was a walk in the park, though, relatively.

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  5. Thank you for your open-ness. Details such as this will help those facing similar situations make a more informed decision about whether to go forward.

    A pill down the trachea sounds pretty intimidating. (I know if/when I encounter serious illness I'll be wishing I was of the opposite sex; they're SO much tougher.)

    Have they offered you any librium or ativan for anxiety? Things, such as swallowing, can be easier when you're "relaxed." Librium is an ancient and innocuous drug. My physician relates how they give it to alcoholics for the DTs. Dosage for them is 200mg every hour. I find 25 mg is good for things like too loud a TV and screening out nearby conversations about last night's tv....50mg for trips to Walmart. (You can open the capsule -- or grind up the tablet -- and put it in pudding.)

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