Working Hard

Getting myself back to "normal" has been a slow process. It's just the nature of the beast. I can tell from week to week that I continue to improve. But this certainly isn't like the flu where you can wake up and say, "I feel a little better today."

I am getting to a point where I can begin to tell what symptoms are the result of the radiation treatments, and what side effects are the result of the chemo.

I've read some testimonials from other cancer patients who've received extensive radiation treatments. Many wrote about just how long it takes to return to "normal," after radiation. Many mentioned a time frame around one year. And for others, some things have just never returned to "normal."

For me, I still do have some ringing in my ears. If my face gets a little red from exercising or doing some physical work you can still see the radiation line above my eyebrows. My forehead remains pale while my face is rosey and it does not appear as if life is yet back to normal in my head, inside the radiation field.

I believe that many glands are still recovering and coming back to life. It's hard to pin a doctor down on this one, since the effects of radiation, beyond killing cancer cells, are a bit of a mystery. My eye muscles were affected by the radiation, as well as my speech, but both continue to improve with each passing month.

With many of the radiation effects waning, the chemo has had more opportunity to present its own fun side effects. Primarily the chemo turns my digestive system into an amusement park. Every day is different, some better and some worse. But dealing with it and trying to control it with medicine and proper diet has been the biggest challenge of the chemo treatments. The chemo is like putting a little poison in your body everyday. But it's a poison that's attacking the poison that already exists - the cancer.

I've gotten more and more serious about my morning exercises. It's meager compared to what I could do before cancer came to town. But it's helping and I'm feeling the ongoing improvement, and that's all that counts.

Thanks to everyone who forwarded me recipes. With very limited amounts of beef now in my diet we're greatly expanding our poultry and fish menu. Last night I made Chicken Tetrazzini for the first time. It was a great way to use up leftover chicken from Barb's roaster that she made on Sunday. The Tetrazzini was awesome. I still can't eat portions like I used to, but I finished a healthy portion, cleaning my plate. By the way that Barb went back for seconds, I'd say the Chicken Tetrazzini is a recipe worth trying.

OK. Time to exercise.