It has been a while now since I have updated interested parties on my condition. At the time of my last post, I was "peaking" at my low point. I didn't know it at the time, but at that point the worst was pretty much behind me. Now, here it is exactly 4 weeks after I finished my treatments and things have seemingly calmed down. I now have about a month off from any and all visits to the doctor and that is a nice feeling right now. October 10th I will go back for my first CT scan post-treatment which will serve as a baseline for all further CT scans. I don't anticipate much coming from this first CT scan unless something dramatic shows up. After the 10th, I will go see both the medical oncologist and the radiation oncologist the following week.
I went last week and had blood work done and saw the medical oncologist to go over what those results were. As of last week all my blood cell counts were back to normal and he told me that everything was looking good in my recovery. I have also begun to feel much, much better on a daily basis. The only real problem I am dealing with these days is pain in my jaw and left side of my face when I eat solid food. The pain is actually quite intense, so I am still somewhat limited in what I can eat. My surgeon put me on some anti-inflammatory medicine and a muscle relaxer as well to see if that helps. Thus far, it has been doing a good job of lessening the severity of the pain when I eat, so I am optimistic that when I am off the medicine the pain should be more manageable. I still don't have much taste when it comes to food, but I am feeling that in the last couple of days more and more flavors are recognizable and I hope that is a sign that my taste is coming back. Other than the eating pain and some lingering fatigue all seems to be headed in the right direction. I am still incapable of going with a full beard as the hair has not started coming back at all for most of my face, but I am hopeful that it returns someday. Now, I can simply concentrate on growing the best mustache I can and getting some beard balm so that I can style it like a professional.
To sum it all up, I am still alive and very happy to be so. Hopefully I have many more years to look forward to, regardless of the condition of my facial hair. As the days since finishing treatment continue to grow, I am filled with more and more hope that I can put this all behind me and focus on what is ahead. Goodnight for now, more to come...
