Back in Miami doing my cancer warrior thing after a nice weekend with my family in Vero. Saturday was pretty nasty as I had an awful bitter/metallic taste in my mouth and a nasty stomach ache to match. A restful 3 – 4 hour nap and a strong Reed’s Ginger Beer helped settle things down a bit. I’m not sure if this was a preview of things to come but I suspect it was. Even though I wasn’t feeling well we managed to have a fun afternoon and evening watching college football. I didn’t realize Annabel was such a big fan! Of course we were cheering for University of Miami. Even though they lost we still had a nice time. Annabel was very sweet and made me a soothing miso and tofu soup for supper. Thanks baby!
I was feeling better on Sunday and had a great time with Meier and Aaron at Waldo’s on the beach eating lunch and listening to one of our favorite bands and our wedding band, Old Barber Bridge. The ocean was beautiful. That really helped charge me up for the week ahead. Thanks guys!
An intense thunder storm rolled in just as I finished packing so I took a short nap with Annabel to wait it out. More recharging! On the way back to Miami I stopped in Wellington to enjoy dinner with my parents and some of their close friends. It was a nice break from the drive and great to see everyone. The lightning storm for the rest of the trip was fantastic!
My treatments yesterday and today were pretty uneventful. I am feeling strong and my time in the mask is starting to feel familiar. Not necessarily comfortable, but familiar. Both days I was able to get some good meditations in focusing on my breathing and divine light cascading creative energy, healing and strength. Nice!
After Monday’s treatment I got to do a swallow study. This was kind of cool. I sat in front of a special X-ray machine and was fed barium-laced foods with different textures. They started thick, like mashed potatoes, and then on to the consistency of honey, nectar and pudding. For the last one they added crackers. The interesting part was that as I chewed and swallowed I could see the food inside my mouth and throat on the X-ray monitor! How cool is that?! I’ll have to add that one to my home movies!
The speech therapist was very helpful and made some suggestions for strengthening my tongue to help combat the effects of the radiation that may force me to need a temporary feeding tube. I love my groceries so I’m hoping to avoid this altogether if possible. If not, my nutrition, health and healing are most important and I’ll get the tube. I will miss my groceries…