Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel
I went into this with a great deal of dread, hoping I could just make it to week 5 before I hit the wall. Now that I'm approaching week 5, I can clearly see I will make it to week 6. Here is how I break it down:
Energy: Fine. I work from 7:00AM to 1:00PM each day, make the 2 hr drive to Charleston for a 3:15 appointment, and then I'm back home by 6:00PM. Eat dinner. Read or watch a movie and then go to bed at 9:00PM. Up at 6:00Am and repeat. I've been taking it easy over the weekend.
Skin: Starting to show a radiation burn. Mostly just a pink area the size of a softball. A few darker red spots that I assume are due to scatter from my dental work (radiation bouncing off). Today I put a little Aloe on the area.
Ear: I had a hearing test at the end of week 3 because I noticed some signs of hearing loss. Ringing in the ear and I can no longer count the cycles of the RT machine. Doctor says hearing loss only happens in 3% of the cases and should not happen until sometime after the treatments end. The hearing test confirmed some high frequency loss.
Mouth: No soreness at all. A little dry. Saliva is thick.
Taste: Mostly gone now. I can't taste salt at all. So any food that needs salt for good flavor tastes terrible. Cheese, meat, soup....yuk. Fruits, cereal and ice cream are okay but not great.
Weight: I'm still up 1 pound from when I started. I'm glad I gained because I suspect I will now lose weight for the next 3 or 4 weeks.
Muscle Movement: I lost all movement on the surgery side and could not grin, blink, pucker, move my nose or talk well. My lip started coming back last week and is improving quickly. My speech is getting back to normal and my nose is starting to move. I have not seen any improvement in blinking and continue to wear a Blinkeze weight.
I'm looking forward to putting week 5 behind me. Giddy Up!