Life goes on....

I seem to have completely dropped the blog ball. Sorry 'bout that!

We are moving forward through the daily radiation treatments. 3 weeks down. 5 weeks to go! It's a bit of a grind and James is experiencing some early effects of radiation. The stoma and trachea appear red and sore, there is blood and clotting during cleaning. It's a bit painful for James, we're trying to clean less frequently and he's doing much more himself with mirror and q-tips in hand. I can only imagine how things will be by the end of the 8 weeks. Ugh.

James has said his esophagus is also a little sore, also due to radiation (they're pretty much rotating around his neck so everything is affected) so they prescribed "miracle mouth wash" which isn't a mouth wash as much as a numbing swallow. We were told it'll numb his throat for about 20 minutes, long enough to eat/drink without pain. It's not horrible yet but good to know we have a tool for when it does get bad. Of course it's not covered by insurance. What else is new.

He has no appetite and nothing tastes good. He's pretty much living on chocolate ensure, 4x a day as recommended by the nutritionist. He does try other things in tiny portions but we haven't hit on anything that's had a positive review recently. He wanted to test pizza last night thinking that it wasn't a favorite before chemo/rad so who knows, maybe it would be now? He ate one small slice and called it a day. Luckily Sander was home for a visit so left with a box. I'm struggling not to clean up all the plates as my weight is inching up. So hard to throw food away.

Tiny mini edit... as soon as I clicked post with this entry James came in and said he could smell and taste the cinnamon in the bread pudding I made this morning. Hurrah! Small victory :^) I'll take it!

The second (and last) chemo is this Tuesday so today I start harassing him about hydration, cranking up the fluid intake. It makes such a difference with side effects if you can super hydrate before during and after the treatment. Something I learned back in the day. So nice honestly that it's just the two chemo sessions.

We're thinking that we'll be skipping family Easter gatherings to lay low at home. With the first chemo the side effects hit hard 4-6 days out which is perfect timing for the holiday. He's also very hesitant to be around large crowds because he doesn't want to catch any illnesses. That's all we'd need. Maybe the Easter bunny will visit anyways. We've found that black licorice is a nice flavor for his chemo/rad mouth. Who knew? Also coca cola. All the most nutritious things, yikes.

I'd like to take a moment to thank all of the family and friends who have shown support and love to us in various ways. You have come through for us when we most needed it the most without our asking. Every sign/show of support has been perfect in it's timing to meet unexpected needs. Without being overly specific I hope you know who you are as you read this. We thank you and love you and bless your kind giving hearts. xxoo Beth and James