The Rest of the Story

As fast as things had gone down hill, now they were heading right back up again.  I don't remember if it was Day 11 or Day 12 exactly, but in the same way I had felt dramatically worse every day now I was feeling stronger every morning.  In pretty short order, I decided I was done with the Fentanyl patches and just didn't put a new one on.  Ok, that didn't work out so well so I asked Deb for a script that was half the strength of the one I had been using.  I didn't even finish the half-strength box before I didn't need them at all.  I also cold-turkey quit the anti-depressants like you are not supposed to do and while it was weird for a week or so, haven't had to go back.  The goofy side effects from them continued for several months.

My neck skin was healing much better than expected and all of the docs ooh'ed and ahh'ed over the fact that I wasn't going to scar, especially in the two nasty spots on my collarbone.  I was as spritually high at this point as I have ever been in my life.  A huge crowd of friends and family had gathered around me and carried me across the finish line.  I wanted EVERYONE to know how cool that was.  As soon as I was off the pain meds, I went back to work.  I ended up missing a little over 3 weeks of work.

I should talk about that for a moment.  I may have missed 3 weeks of work but I was probably useless to them for at least two more.  The great people I worked for knew it was important to me to, as best I could, continue normal life during treatment.  When things started to get tough, they found things I could do so I could still contribute.  I know a few times I fell asleep at my desk and when I woke someone had turned the lights off.  They certainly watched out for me. They were my friends, prayer warriors and cheerleaders and played a huge part in my success.

As good as I was feeling, there were a few things that weren't progressing as fast as I would like.  My voice and swallowing ability first on that list.  I was told the follow up PET scan would be four weeks after my last treatment to allow everything to heal.  The PET picks up cellular activity and a whole area healing would light up enough to possibly hide any potential remaining cancer.  About a week before the PET, I went by the Center to let them know I wasn't healed enough for the PET.  They were very kind and assured me 1) you will NOT be 100% healed in four weeks, 2) you are on or a little ahead of schedule in the healing timetable and 3) we ARE doing the PET next week.  Come on, Chris...relax.