Just revisited the blog and saw my last post was one year ago. A ridiculous amount of stuff has happened in the past year and nearly all of it good. Since the tongue cancer thing was what started the blog to begin with, lets just start there.
I remain cancer free (Thanks be to God!). In all honesty and to those who may happen upon this who are looking for info, here are the hangers on issues from the battle:
1) Medium volume, non-stop ringing in my ears from the Cisplatin. I learn more every day about what makes it worse and what doesnt. Easy on the caffeine. Get plenty of sleep. I loose some ability to communicate in a very noisy place as others voices get lost in the din.
2) Really strange spit. I am told there are two components to saliva, one thick and one thin. I dont make as much thin as a normal person but I MAKE SPIT. That is a huge plus. I actually make enough to run 3 miles without carrying water. The cold weather does impact that but I am adapting. I know some people who went through what I did and dont have any spit and maybe never will. I have not lost sight of the fact that I am very blessed.
3) Swallow issues remain. Swallowing is OK for the most part. I know what causes me problems and I avoid it (stringy stuff, granola, bread, etc.). I love chicken tacos which are stringy, so I soak them in salsa. I love bread so I soak it in gravy. It is such a minor complaint but I just have to give a little thought to what Im eating and adjust accordingly.
4) Neck cramps. Im not gonna get tough guy with you on this, they bring me to my knees. I am lifting weights at the gym which does make matters a little worse. It can be any muscle in my neck but the worst are the ones where the pain is at the point where the neck muscle attaches to the back of my skull. Once they cramp, you can tell they will cramp again if you turn your head just so... kind of like when your hamstring is on the verge of cramping. At some point the cramps will override my desire to lift and that will be that.
5) My taste is back but not like it was. I love some things I just liked before. Some of the things I loved before do nothing for me now. Pecan pie was the one food item I could not live without. Now, its just OK and it breaks my heart. Fortunately, beer has replaced pecan pie as the one food item I could not live without AND it healed my broken heart. Viola!
I have 3 friends who have all won their battle with head/neck during the last year and one friend who didnt make it. The guys who made it did better than I did and made me very proud! I continue to attend the SPOHNC meetings and try and help any new folks and I cant help but learn something that helps me, too.
My amazing wife wanted me to skydive for the one year celebration. As she was looking for deals, she found an outfit in the midcities that lets you drive a sports car for an hour (www.driveyourdream.com). She surprised me with a drive and picked the car for me, a Lamborghini Gallardo. Way way cool. A couple of days after purchasing the drive-around, up pops a deal on skydiving. So one week after tearing up the Fort Worth streets in the Gallardo, I jumped out of an airplane at 10,800 feet. It was every bit as cool as I thought it would be.
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