It’s been 6 days since my last treatment and I’m starting to feel a bit better after a rough start to the week. The last few days have been very difficult, perhaps some of the most difficult days of all. The burning on my neck, particularly the left side has been very intense. It’s usually most intense when I first wake up as is the burning in my mouth and throat. The pain tends to settle down some after I shower to remove the dead skin and apply the cream Dr. Samuels gave me. After some relief the burn flares up from time to time throughout the day. I’ll usually take another shower in the late afternoon and apply some more cream which helps keep it calm through the night. The good news is that this area continues to heal and looks better each day.
The pain in my mouth has also been very intense. I was barely able to eat dinner (Egg Drop Soup) on Tuesday because the burning on my tongue, cheeks and throat were so bad. Even with the Fentanyl and Hydrocodone I could barely do it. I had already had the bulk of my calories and protein for the day so it wasn’t critical. Mostly I was surprised because I usually get to enjoy a relatively soothing sensation from Egg Drop Soup. I am happy to report the bitterness seems to have diminished significantly. Mostly I have a burning, metallic sensation in my mouth. At best I am pretty numb to flavors with occasional sense of the “essence” of a particular food like blueberries, banana, peanut butter, etc.
Yesterday I paid the price of narcotic pain killers with an excruciating battle with constipation. This ended in the evening with a little help from my friends at Fleet! OMG!!!
Today I am feeling the best I have in a while. My neck burns, my mouth burns and I am tired, but it all seems just a little better today. I drank my morning smoothie without too much pain and plan to have a restful, relaxing day so that my body can continue to heal.