St. Patrick’s Day was my last day at work until I decide to go back. I figured I wasn’t keeping up on my mouth and throat maintenance as well as I could and I’ve pretty much given up on solid food. This makes eating at work a bit messy. I’ll also rely on my PEG for almost all of my hydration now. So, rather then put my co-workers through all the mess and probably gross happenings at my desk or in the rest room, I figured it was better to take it home.
I’ve got a lap top from work, so I will be able to keep up with my email. That doesn’t mean I’ll get much work done, but I will get the 20 admin notes a day that clutter up everyone’s in box.
Chemo treatment went well on Tuesday and on Wednesday we changed up my radiation treatment to reach down lower below my neck proper. I didn’t notice until this weekend that they are also radiating the back of my neck. I’ll have to ask them about that on Monday. We also changed my radiation appointment time from 9 o’clock to 1 o’clock in the afternoon. The traffic is much better at noon than at 8 o’clock in the morning. I get to sleep in and leisurely take care of business in the morning. The routine seems to get longer every day.
We discussed raising my pain meds in the near future. Dr. Akins mentioned putting me on a patch. That’s something new for him, so I’ll be a guinea pig for him. I have to crush 325 mg Percocet and use the PEG to keep up with what I need now. It will be nice to have a steady amount of pain killer, versus taking a dose every 4 hours.
Except for Cream of Wheat breakfast cereal and Oatmeal, both of which I add a liberal amount of warm milk to make it about as liquid as possible, I am on a liquid diet. If it has to be chewed, it isn’t going in my mouth.
Last week’s mass emailing resulted in some great comments and personal emails from y’all. They came at a great time and I will reply individually rather than an open comment to the blog page. I figure if y’all are taking the time to read this and make a comment, the least I can do is acknowledge your time and effort.
I tried to convince Terry on St. Patrick’s Day to take a picture of me with one of my Guinness tukes along with a full syringe of Guinness ready for input to my PEG. Needless to say she wasn’t very encouraging and shut down the conversation quickly. She doesn’t realize this just gives me more reason to stick around until next March 17th and have another one of the many silly St. Patrick’s Day pictures taken. Wives just don’t know to what extent they can provide encouragement to their husbands.
Oh yeah, it was down in the low 30’s (F) this morning. We spent a few minutes late yesterday afternoon bringing in plants to the garage and covering what we couldn’t bring in. Plant nurseries will do a bang up job again next weekend. We never learn.
Major disappointment for me next week. If I wasn’t undergoing treatment I would be attending the 64th NEDBAG meeting at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Garmisch Germany. I believe that would have been my 41st NEDBAG meeting. It also happens to be the last meeting for my other US delegates, CAPT (sel) Stu Baker, USN, who will be moving on to a new assignment in April and MSgt John Winegardner, USAF, who will be retiring in June. I will miss them both and regret not being able to give them a good send off. Both gentlemen are dedicated hard workers that will not be replaced easily.
I hadn’t minded the diagnosis, treatment decision and finally the actual treatment timeframe until now. Up to this point it has been taking place during our winter/holiday doldrums, but next week starts our annual schedule of meetings that run until November. I hope I’m back in the saddle again soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment