All Done (for the most part)

Today I had my last radiation therapy treatment, and my last visit to the oncology nurses.  Yay me.

I also got to take my mask home:

I'm glad to finally to be able to not have to wear that on a daily basis.  When it's clamped down, it's pretty skin tight, it usually leaves the honey comb pattern on my face for a bit after.  It needs a wooden plaque, and some antlers- I suppose I also need a fire place to put it above as well.

I had to have my port flushed one last time (supposed to have it accessed, or flushed once a month).  In a month I'll have it removed (and added as another cancer souvenir) after I get over the worst of the radiation side effects.  It was good to see my oncology nurses one more time in the chair.

After that- I rest for a month and a half or so to relax, recover and have my body return to normal.

I do have a mid June appointment with both my oncologists, just to see how everything has gone- but more so to check up on my health to make sure my recover is going well.  It's looking like I should be back to work around middle/end of June now.

I still can't taste anything, and probably won't for the next month, as it slowly comes back. Because of the way I was situated, I lost part of my new hair on the lower back of my head:

That sucks.  Although- most everywhere else is growing well.  My facial hair I noticed, has stopped growing on the right side of my face because of the radiation... but still grows on the left side.  So I have to shave half of my face now.  At least it's not blonde anymore.

Cats:

They do in fact like each other.

Last Radiation Treatment

Tomorrow is my last radiation treatment.  Yay me.

Yesterday they reduced the radiation field along my right armpit and left clavicle (as there wasn't much activity there to begin with), and stopped radiating my throat.  With the 2 days rest from the weekend + no longer having my throat radiated, I can finally eat things and not have it be painful going down (mostly).  I do have quite a bit of dry mouth though.  It should take about a month to get better, about 1 year to go back to normal (or less).

Oh yeah: I can't taste anything.  Everything has a weird neutral bitter iron/bloody taste to it.  Except for tomatoes.  They just burn my mouth like they're fire-peppers. Coke tastes like fizzy metal.  Bread tastes like bitter dirt with some yeast in it.  Taste should gradually come back over the next month or so, with complex tastes returning within 3 months.  So in about 3 months, I can enjoy that Scotch again to its fullest.  However now, it's not much fun eating or drinking, more of a chore.

Me:  I think I have thrush.
Doctor:  Let's see... hmm, that looks painful.
Me: Yeah.
Doctor:  It's probably not thrush though, it's probably just from the radiation.
Me: Great.

I'll get to keep my mask after tomorrow (probably in my storage unit as it's kind of big), I'll put up a picture of that next time.

Here's a photo of the crab Cioppino soup I made the other week that I previously mentioned. It was JUST as my throat and mouth started acting up from the radiation:

The crab was no problem to eat, but the tomatoes kind of burnt like fire going down.

I'm also getting my port flushed tomorrow, by my old oncology nurses after my radiation treatment.  I kind of miss seeing them.  I have to have my port flushed once a month or used once a month- it's been awhile.  In about a month or so after I've recovered from radiation a bit more I'll have it taken out (and recover from that) with maybe one more port flush in there.