Good Report from Radiation Oncologist

Today I had my regular check up with Dr. C, my radiation oncologist. He is very pleased with my recovery – eating well, minimal side effects, and a full head of hair.

After a little numbing spray up my nose, Dr. C scoped the back of my tongue and throat. No sign of a tumor;) Everything looked good except for some mucous on the walls of my throat. The remedy – gargle with warm water mixed with salt and baking soda or gargle with soda water and salt or drink two glasses of sparking water each day.

The side effects I’m experiencing are very severe, thank goodness. Most mornings I have some level of dry mouth. Running a vaporizer at night keeps the dry mouth to a minimum. Occasionally, I have difficulty swallowing. But my eating smaller bits and eating more slowly, this issue is decreasing. Doing my swallowing exercises daily has also helped. Speaking of eating. Some of my teeth are not happy when I eat chips, crackers, and other crunch foods. So I rarely eat them anymore.

Because my recovery is going so well and to work around appointments with my other doctors, my next appointment with Dr. C will be in five months – yeah!

Next up is my 6-month post-treatment CT scan on February 3. Doesn’t seem like it has been that long since radiation treatments ended on August 12, 2010.

Getting back to “normal” is feeling real good!