I survived radiation

My last radiation treatment was November 16. A month later, most of the burns are healed and my energy is coming back. I still don't have all my taste senses back, but they're coming. But what a brutal process. 30 treatments, strapped down to a table with a face/shoulder mask that immobilizes you. Add to this the fact that the oral surgery process cranked my neck back and triggered the two ruptured disks there, and you have a recipe for a lot of discomfort.

But I'm past it now and looking forward to being able to eat Christmas dinner. No more Ensure. The burns in my mouth are mostly healed. Now the challenge is to overcome the trismus...the radiation caused scar tissue at the jaw to contract so much I can only open my mouth 10 mm. That's barely enough to allow small bits of food in. So now I get physical therapy to stretch that scar tissue enough to let me open my mouth.

During my treatments, one after another of my siblings and friends took care of me. Sibs each came for about a week and did cooking and cleaning. The cooking was a pretty thankless task for most of this, as the type and amount of food I could force in was decreasing each day through Thanksgiving. The radiation not only stops the taste buds and saliva glands from working, it also burns the roof of the mouth, the inside of the cheeks and gums, and leaves big sores on the tongue. So it was a major struggle to keep eating. I have lost nearly 40 pounds in the process.

Now that it's over, I'm hoping to keep that weight off and lose a little more. But that's for after Christmas. I'm just going to enjoy eating whatever I can eat until the new year.