18. deep throat

Well, one skill I will definitely have when all is said and done is some very powerful throat control. In order to get at saliva that has annoyingly attached itself to various obscure parts of my anatomy way back in my oral cavity I am teaching myself how to independently move the different parts while gargling to loosen up the phlegm and spit it out. It is not a pretty sight, sound or smell. I try to make sure no one is home, or I go upstairs, or turn the water way up, but I know my poor family, and the occasional unsuspecting visitor, has had to endure some very awful sounds. But whataya gonna do? It works.

Yesterday, Monday, I returned to the hospital renewed. I actually gained 3 pounds since my last visit on Thursday. Skipping Friday felt like going on vacation, even if it did kick off with a visit to the emergency room. The break gave me time to work on my pain management routine, which is now: percocet every 4 hours, with a possible morphine hit for any sudden stray pain. I've also got pain killing lollipops but haven't tried them yet. And for the constipation that accompanies all this pain suppression I've got a nice big bottle of prune juice, which seems infinitely more effective than powdered laxitive. I also refined my feeding schedule on Saturday and Sunday. By tube I take 4 - 6 cans of my super high calorie (560) Instant Breakfasts a day, plus 4 cups of herbal throat tea by mouth, herb pills, and another herb tea provided by my acupuncturist. All this is topped off by frequent sprays of chloraseptic to keep my throat and tongue numb. Every half hour or so I retire to the bathroom to work on my throat clearing techniques using salt water and/or my super expensive prescription gargling liquid. And I keep a running journal of when I take and do what, so I don't end up doing anything dumb, like overdosing.

After such a relatively calm weekend, it was with a good deal of trepidation that I approached Monday's radiation treatment. But, amen, it was uneventful. My doctor told me gaining weight this late in the treatment was unprecedented and demonstrated my committment to thriving. Yay! Then it was off to chemo, my first time in 2 weeks. The doctor looked in my mouth and said "you don't want to get chemo do you?" To which Betsy and I replied, "well, what do you think?" After some back and forth we agreed it was time to restart the infusions, which we then proceeded to do. And lo and behold, this too proved a non-event! I went through the usual benadryl doze, recovered, and felt pretty well by the time it was all over around 2:30. We got home by 3 and I did a couple of solid hours of job work - reviewing and editing a script for a segment. That felt good too. Later in the evening, a friend stopped by briefly, which was fun, but afterwards I realized I'd missed a feeding and some meds. It's so easy to get thrown off my schedule. Not only do I have to be diligent about all this, but also constantly vigilant! Wow. I suspect throat control is not the only skill I'm learning.