checking in - six month oncologist exam

This week marks six months since I completed radiation and chemotherapy. I had appointments today with my oncologist and ENT doctor to do exams. No scan this time. My next CT scan (and possibly my last if results are good) will be in July. Both physical exams today were very good. Both docs said there was no sign of any cancer... both put their hands down my throat to feel my tonsil (gag me with a spoon!) and both put their hands around my throat to feel for any swelling of lymph nodes...and both said everything looked very good. Neither were overly concerned about the original post treatment PET scan that showed a lingering "hot spot" on the tonsil...it could have been a false positive. If my July scan is clean...then I will really have cause to celebrate; in the meantime, today's exams were encouraging and neither doctor saw any signs of cancer. I am grateful and thankful for these good signs.

This week I read some of the posts I wrote in November. I don't think I had done that before. Oh, my. I was in such bad shape, physically and emotionally. I was alarmed at just how miserable I had been. So much of that is almost surreal at this point...was that really me going through such an ordeal? I have repressed much of what I was feeling and thinking. I have come so far. I am walking several miles a day, eating a variety of foods, regaining energy, working full time, and feeling alive. I still have only minimal saliva, feel the need for a 30 minute nap around noon, have slight neuropathy from the chemo, still have some distortions in taste (though that is improving all the time), can not eat anything spicy or with too much vinegar (salad dressings make me cry...but I love eating salads so I cry between bites...I have yet to find salad dressing without vinegar or ketchup which contains vinegar). I am not gaining weight, but being a little too thin is OK with me for now...I eat plenty and no longer have to fret over the caloric or fat content of my food... a blessing. I have learned to eat most dry food with the aid of water... still no bagels, but I have eaten Pizza, ribs, chicken, hamburger, toast and jam. I eat lots of spaghetti and lots of cereal. I found a place that sells crumpets...Ideal grocery for those in Lincoln... I had never eaten a crumpet before, but they go down easily and are sort of like a moist English Muffin!. I'm loving them. I can eat all vegetables and baked and mashed potatoes. I eat bananas and oranges (unless my tongue is cut from the dryness). I have lost my sweet tooth, but I have eaten marshmallow peeps and M & M's in an attempt to regain it...maybe I shouldn't try so hard!

I
feel
so
blessed
so
grateful
so
happy
to be
ALIVE!

I have planted lettuce and beets and am looking forward to planting more veggies in the next few weeks. I took my Mountain bike in to get tuned...I haven't used it in years, but I am looking forward to giving cycling a shot this year.

Right now, I am re-reading Walden by Thoreau...I read it last as a teenager. Great stuff. I have a few more "lessons learned" thoughts that I will hopefully get to in the next weeks. I hope to post about once a week for awhile yet. Today is a good day.