Hump day

It has now been one week since I finished up and what a week it was.  Now that I am actually taking my pain pills, I can deal with the pain levels but I don't function that well when taking hydrocodone every 4 hours.  Lots of sleeping in my future as long as this course holds true.  I will take sleeping all day versus the pain I was in over the last weekend, however, so I guess I will just have to make due.
My neck seems to be healing up quite nicely.  I am down to only applying aquaphor to my actual scar line and I am hoping in a couple of days I won't even need it there.  The skin that has been exposed to radiation is always going to be funky, though.  I think it will look like a healed burned area, but time will tell.  While the neck continues to get better, the inside of my mouth continues to get worse.  Maybe it is due to swelling tissue and more sores, but I continue to struggle to eat and drink normally.  If I can keep the food on the right side of my mouth throughout the whole process, I can usually get some solid food into my body.  It is definitely a slow process, however, but one of vital importance to me if I want continue healing quickly.  I partook of three actual meals today for the first time in a week, so I am encouraged that I will be able to eat more in the coming days.  It is an interesting struggle, to know that I have to eat to get better but the act of eating is so painful and discouraging that it is hard to build up the strength to even try.  I am encouraged after today and that will help as I move forward.  I think it has been a while since I mentioned how much I hate the daily fluoride treatments that I have to do at night before I go to bed.  I hate them very much.  That is all I have to say about that.
One bright spot in my day is that I get to go with Bowen and A.J. to school and I am there to get them in the afternoon when they get out of school.  Today we rode bikes to school and that is the plan for tomorrow.  My doctor did tell me that a little bit of exercise is good for my recovery and it is about all I can do to make it to and from the school on my bike and then I am knocked out for a while, but in the end I think it is good for me.  Regardless, I count myself lucky that I get some extra time and activities with my sons that I normally would not get had I simply been at work all day.
I think that is about it and I just got extremely dizzy and lightheaded so I think that means I should go to sleep.  One day closer to feeling better.