On Christmas day I removed my final Fentanyl patch today is third day without it and it is a whorl wind dealing with the withdrawal symptoms, sick to my stomach, can’t sleep, and I am restless and don’t know what to do with myself. Each day it gets a little better no matter what there is no way I am putting on another Fentanyl patch. If you look up Fentanyl up on the Internet there are horror stories about people trying and not being able to get off it. I will make it. I have Vicodin to get me over the hump while I get over the withdrawal symptoms from the Fentanyl I hope a week does but how ever long it takes I will make it. A full night sleep would be nice, I am not sure the last time I slept all night, you can be sure that is one thing I look forward to.
I am starting to try food out a few bites of scrambled eggs, pudding; eating food is the next challenge.
My tongue, throat and mouth still hurt not like it did but it still hurts. It is still the effects of the radiation and it has been 3 weeks since I had radiation. Dr. Kwan my radiation oncologist told Patty and me it could take two months to recover from the radiation effects. I certainly hope not. I wish there was a way to speed up the process.
The next steps are follow-up visits to the doctors in January. Back to work on February 2nd which I can not wait for. Sometime in late February or March I will have a PET scan and that will tell the story if I am cancer free. If anything shows up on the Scan I will have surgery to remove it if it is clear then just regular follow-ups. Thinking about this is just a little too much for me right now so I will wait until the time comes.
Happy New Year to all of you and your families, God bless you all I hope 2009 is a healthy and healing year for all of us.
I for one will continue to Fight On!
Love Michael
Monday, December 29, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Cancer Thoughts 18
From no updates in months to two updates in a week, it has been a good week so far.
First Patty and I walked Monday night not far but far enough, and then we followed it up by walking just a little farther tonight. It is not much but it is a start and up to me to continue it the more I walk, the farther I walk, the stronger I become and that has got to help. You are walking with me, not in person but in spirit we have started with a block did and then a block and little bit.
At the start when I first started writing the Blog I used it as motivation to stay strong as long as I could. I think about what I want to say and then I write it down and send it out to you. Now I have told someone that I would do something and I feel obligated to do it. You are all walking with me, I have a goal; two laps around the complex which is 1.4 miles once that is done for 5 nights in a row then I will go from there.
The second thing is I am on my second eight ounce bottle of water today, it has taken all day but I am swallowing water and that is a big deal when I can do that without it hurting my throat then I know I can start eating and that is key to my recovery. Food and water eating to live, I am not sure when that will start but I have to believe it will.
I feel very positive today and wanted to share that with you. Merry Christmas to Everyone,. Sunday night a lot of my neighbors came to our house caroling it was wonderful thank you for being there for me, for letting me know I am not going through this alone.
Be well and I still choose to Fight On!
First Patty and I walked Monday night not far but far enough, and then we followed it up by walking just a little farther tonight. It is not much but it is a start and up to me to continue it the more I walk, the farther I walk, the stronger I become and that has got to help. You are walking with me, not in person but in spirit we have started with a block did and then a block and little bit.
At the start when I first started writing the Blog I used it as motivation to stay strong as long as I could. I think about what I want to say and then I write it down and send it out to you. Now I have told someone that I would do something and I feel obligated to do it. You are all walking with me, I have a goal; two laps around the complex which is 1.4 miles once that is done for 5 nights in a row then I will go from there.
The second thing is I am on my second eight ounce bottle of water today, it has taken all day but I am swallowing water and that is a big deal when I can do that without it hurting my throat then I know I can start eating and that is key to my recovery. Food and water eating to live, I am not sure when that will start but I have to believe it will.
I feel very positive today and wanted to share that with you. Merry Christmas to Everyone,. Sunday night a lot of my neighbors came to our house caroling it was wonderful thank you for being there for me, for letting me know I am not going through this alone.
Be well and I still choose to Fight On!
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Cancer Thoughts 15
It has been a while since I sent anything out; I have written some updates but just have not sent them, they were too negative and were the same complaints over and over.
But there is an update all the treatments have been completed for the last 2 weeks. The side effects of the radiation are still with me, especially the damage to my tongue and throat that is still causing me some issues. Patty and I met with my oncologist toady and he said they will heal it will just take some time.
The issues I have now are from pain medication they are giving me to control the pain. We saw the Surgeon and my oncologist last week and they were both encouraging that they thought everything was going as it should be.
It is Saturday and I am off of everything but the Fentanyl patch and the Vicodin and that is changing fast. I took the Vicodin every 4 hours without fail, now I am using it two or three times a day once the sores inside my mouth, throat and on my tongue heal we will eliminate the Fentanyl completely and use the Vicodin as needed for a few days. I am hoping to be medicine free by New Year’s Day and then driving again the second week of January. That is my plans, but I have found that my plans do not always work out.
For all of this to happen I have to be able to swallow water and liquids first which I can do a little at this time. I will also have to be able to eat food by mouth. The doctors will not give me a time line when they think this will happen but all of them have told me when my mouth, tongue and throat heal getting off the pain medication, drinking, and eating small amounts of bland food will happen along with it.
When this all started I weighed 250 pounds and was a XXL now I am wearing a size Large and 200 pounds, the weight loss is amazing, the doctor does not want me to loose any more weight and I don’t either.
Today is Sunday, December 21, 2008 it is about 3:00 in the afternoon I have had no Vicodin today and I am hoping to get through the day without it. One more baby step on the way to recovery, for now we are taking it as it comes and that seems to be a minute at a time.
When this all started exercise was part of my daily routine, as the side effects of the radiation and chemo took there toll I could no longer exercise. I think that is turning around now and we Patty and I are going to start walking again; I will let you know next week how that goes.
Be well I still choose to Fight On.
Love Michael
But there is an update all the treatments have been completed for the last 2 weeks. The side effects of the radiation are still with me, especially the damage to my tongue and throat that is still causing me some issues. Patty and I met with my oncologist toady and he said they will heal it will just take some time.
The issues I have now are from pain medication they are giving me to control the pain. We saw the Surgeon and my oncologist last week and they were both encouraging that they thought everything was going as it should be.
It is Saturday and I am off of everything but the Fentanyl patch and the Vicodin and that is changing fast. I took the Vicodin every 4 hours without fail, now I am using it two or three times a day once the sores inside my mouth, throat and on my tongue heal we will eliminate the Fentanyl completely and use the Vicodin as needed for a few days. I am hoping to be medicine free by New Year’s Day and then driving again the second week of January. That is my plans, but I have found that my plans do not always work out.
For all of this to happen I have to be able to swallow water and liquids first which I can do a little at this time. I will also have to be able to eat food by mouth. The doctors will not give me a time line when they think this will happen but all of them have told me when my mouth, tongue and throat heal getting off the pain medication, drinking, and eating small amounts of bland food will happen along with it.
When this all started I weighed 250 pounds and was a XXL now I am wearing a size Large and 200 pounds, the weight loss is amazing, the doctor does not want me to loose any more weight and I don’t either.
Today is Sunday, December 21, 2008 it is about 3:00 in the afternoon I have had no Vicodin today and I am hoping to get through the day without it. One more baby step on the way to recovery, for now we are taking it as it comes and that seems to be a minute at a time.
When this all started exercise was part of my daily routine, as the side effects of the radiation and chemo took there toll I could no longer exercise. I think that is turning around now and we Patty and I are going to start walking again; I will let you know next week how that goes.
Be well I still choose to Fight On.
Love Michael
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