Things are on the improve over the past few days and feel like I am getting more food into me. I still having a few issues with the stomach but that is also starting to feel a lot better. The doctor is unsure of what is causing the stomach pains after the x-ray I had on Monday, so further blood tests have been taken.
Yesterday I went for orientation for my Radiation where they took a cast of my face, gave me a CT scan and took me through the process. The cast is to make sure I am in the same spot for each one of my treatments. The process of getting it is not painful but was awkward for me as when they lay me down I couldn’t help but fill up with phlegm that made it hard to breath.
The process from here as I understand it is they take the new CT scan, the previous PET scan overlay them and create my radiation treatment plan. The actual treatments will be every weekday for seven weeks starting on Tuesday next week. I will meet with the doctor every Thursday to review progress. I will also continue to meet occasionally with the throat surgeon.
It’s also been really good to have a few friends visiting over the past few days and lifts the spirits.
Not much to post today except that there has been a continued problem with the stomach which is stopping me from eating much, giving me a sore stomach and other things related to poo that I won’t go into. Anyway upshot is off to hospital tomorrow for some stomach x-rays. My surgeon is pretty confident as to what is causing it so hopefully that will be confirmed and a fix will be forthcoming.
To be honest the weight thing is really starting to get to me now, its hard to believe that it was only a few months ago when I was afraid I was going to hit the big 90 kilos and today I am hoping to get back to 75 kilos.
I am also a little worried after watching the All Blacks and Australia play this weekend. Australia look like they actually have a team that could win and the All Blacks need some serious improvement quickly!!
On a more positive note at least I am now in a position where I can eat more and my throat is feeling a lot better and the pain is much better. I even chewed some lamb yesterday!
And while on that positive note its been exciting to see how quickly Lexi Lambroni is already starting to have a personality all of her own and Zoe continues to amaze me with how she manages to be so smart and cute all at the same time.
Looking forward to a good week ahead.
Yesterday I was reminded that I still have some way to go as I prompted my first ever emergency call for an Ambulance.
I had had some stomach pains through the day and because of that had not eaten much. Determined to have a good dinner I worked through as much mashed potato, mashed Salmon soaked in butter and dill sauce as I could. When finished I started to get pain in my stomach and then neck. Although this was sore it did not initially concern me, I lay on the bed and waited for the pain to subside.
Much to my surprise the pain did not subside at all, the intensity grew, I started to sweet, the world around me started to get groggy. I quickly called for Kirsten to watch out for me but then all I could do was groan and quickly got to to the position where I did not think I could maintain consciousness.
Knowing that I had enough pain killers in me that this pain should not be so intense, not thinking that I was going to be able to stay lucid and not being able to effectively communicate with Kirsten I groaned Ambulance and Kirsten who was already thinking in that direction made the call.
As luck would have it about 10 minutes after the call was made the pain started to subside and by the time the ambulance arrived I was starting to come back to some sort of normality and felt stupid for involving them at all.
Needless to say I am a bit gun shy at the moment and am making some changes to my diary to include more water, less food more often and eating more Yogurt. If I am not feeling a lot better by the end of today will also seek more help in the way of medicines.
Anyway that was my Friday evening. Its been a restless night and although I did not get to see much of it the All Blacks them and I seem to be up for the same thing today which is resting and reflecting on how we can improve.
Better day today I am sure, the sun is out and the weekend is here.
Nothing much to report as pretty much all I did yesterday was two things; Sleep and visit the dentist. From the exhausting day before I seemed to just sleep all morning until about 2pm when Alan and Elisa came to visit which was great.
Had a visit to the hospital to see the dentist which is never fun and this was no exception but the good news was my teeth should be in pretty good condition for the upcoming radiation treatment. I am told though that during after the treatment I can expect my teeth health to deteriorate.
The only other thing on the health front is Thrush seems to have settled in which is annoying. What this means is I have a thin white coating on the tongue and at certain times when I do things like drink some water I get this sharp stinging pain on my tongue. I have some medication so hopefully this will help.
Today I hope to get a little more active today and learn a few techy things.
Goal Progress
Yesterday I probably pushed it a bit far and was really feeling sore last night and even more so this morning. What was I doing? Juliet made a visit in the morning which was great, Had breakfast, lunch and dinner, made very quick trip to Harvey Norman and Bunnings (Kirsten drove) to make a decision on my next mobile phone and much needed supplies. Even though the trip was less than an hour by the end of it I was exhausted.
So today it will be all about resting this morning before a trip to the dentist in the afternoon.
Progress on short-term goals:
So its time to make new goals till next Tuesday which is when I meet for the plan on the radiation treatment
Thanks every ones for continued support, hope to touch base with as many people as possible before I start Radiation in less than 2 weeks.
Nothing funny in my post today so I thought I should start off with a bad cancer joke
“I’ve just been diagnosed with a tumour. I was horrified at first, but it’s starting to grow on me”
Anyway yesterday after a rocky start was a good day. Managed to eat some mashed potato, got a lot of rest and although I didn’t get much sleep at least managed to have a relatively pain free evening.
This morning went to the dentist and he confirmed I had some significant gum disease that will need to manage through radiation therapy, I will have a follow-up appointment on Thursday to help with that situation.
Today is again about pushing for my four short-term goals:
• Stop waking up at 3 am in the morning and needing Morphine or the equivalent – Failed
• Sleep longer periods than my 6 week old which is 5 hours – Failed
• Consume more than 2800 calories in a day – not got past 1000 cal yet
• Be able to take a 20 minute light walk without being exhausted – REACHED!
Anyone wanting to come and say hi please feel free to-do so.
Until the next one…
Managed to rest a lot more yesterday and felt much better because of it. Although I am very frustrated at how long it is taking to be able to eat. I am desperate to eat more food but the whole proces is so difficult and then the resulting lack of calories is so frustrating.
Last night we also had Gumo come around and help Kirsten out with the kids, she like a number of Kirstens friends have been a god send as it really really helps. She also bought me Mens Health which had an article
on 6 fat loss secrets, I added a 7th as proven by my newly found chicken legs 🙂
Today I continue to work on my short term goals and am optimistic their might be a bit more progress than from the last few days.
So I finally got out of the hospital and made it home. It was a very exhausting day as I settled in but was very good to have some sleep in my own bed.
Unfortunately, being released from hospital does not mean that I am better and the poor family was exposed to the amount of coughing, spluttering and pain I express throughout the day and night. I think this was confronting as everyone was very anxious to help even though on the most part there was nothing they could do.
Yesterday I defined some goals I wanted to achieve by the 7th. Here is my progress
Looking forward to stabilising today and enjoying Zoe and Lexi a little more today
A very exciting day for me as I finally get out of the hospital. All that needs to happen is the doctor needs to clarify some stuff with my dental scans and subscriptions filled for all the various medications that I am on.
Even though I am leaving the last 24 hrs has proven that I still have a way to recover, these are the challenges I am trying to overcome in the short term to-do that:
All of the above I hope to achieve by Wednesday next week, we will see how I go.
The other thing that has been good to get back too are some light stress-free projects.
Now I am out I will be really keen to catch-up with as many friends as possible. Unfortunately I won’t be in a position to get to you so if you have some spare time over the next few weeks and you would like to drop in and say hello feel very welcome and don’t be shy. As a bonus, you can also say hi to our new baby Lexi and laugh at how cute Zoe is at the moment. The only thing I ask in return is to heap praise on how great my wife has been J
Till the next post which will hopefully be written from home!
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