Look Out! Radioactive Man!

The past month has held both the good and the bad, but as we all know...you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of life.

The last chemo just plain sucked. The only saving grace was that it was my LAST one. I managed to upchuck three times during it, which is the first time I had that problem during treatment. Anyway, I'm glad the hard part is over early. Another four chemo treatments might have really affected my football watching this fall.

The second phase of my treatment began on July 25th when I had my first radiation blast. I receive radiation on a daily basis Monday-Friday at 8:15am for a total of 17 sessions. That wraps me up on August 16th. After that I'll have one more minor procedure to take out the mediport in my chest and then I won't see doctors again until mid-November when I get a PET scan. I'll continue to get PET scans about every six months for the next five years. Assuming I'm clean at that point, I won't have to do any more follow-ups.

Getting the radiation is a breeze compared to chemo. I'm not even at the CTRC long enough to have to pay for parking and the only suffering I've been through was when I forced to listen to Michael McDonald anger my blood with Ain't No Mountain High Enough while I was helplessly strapped down to the table. It's very similar to getting an x-ray and is painless. I lay down on a table, two people lock a hard mask down on my head, they align me with the machine, they leave the room, the machine buzzes, rotates, buzzes again, the people come back in, they unmask me and then I get up and leave.

The only downer has been some slightly irritating side effects regarding my throat. After treatment #8 it became painful to eat due to the inner lining of my esophagus eroding. Since then I have switched to a lot of soups and mushy-esque foods. It's not too bad though since it's helping me drop some pounds. Also, the radiation makes me tired. I haven't gone to sleep at 9:00pm on such a regular basis since I got grounded two years ago for ruining my own Halloween party.

One last note. After the last two chemo treatments it was very difficult to see, smell or taste anything that reminded me of the CTRC and getting treatment. Even things on the car ride set me off. This blog fell smack into that category as well which is why I haven't updated in so long. Just looking or thinking about it put me in a place I did not want to be. Thankfully most of that has gone away and the road to recovery is much shorter now.