Symptoms increasing with the end in sight. I feel like the guy on the ship who's been given 30 lashes with 25 down and only 5 to go. The problem is, the damage from the first 25 makes the last 5 pretty painful. But considering some of the folks I've seen going through much worse symptoms than me and still able to continue on, I would have no justification for not doing the same.
The worse symptom seems to be the tightness and soreness in the throat, along with very thick saliva that is hard to get up or down. Some other nuisances are nausea, hair loss, fading voice and fatigue. So far though, nothing I can't handle. Eating is extremely difficult; in fact, I didn't even eat dinner tonight - just had my applesauce with my other regular meds. Thanks to the PEG tube though, I've gained a pound in the last 2 weeks, so it stopped the constant weight loss at about 26 pounds.
I want to thank all of those folks out there who have sent me emails, snail mail, comments and phone calls. Your support is helping me in more ways than you know. I especially want to thank my wife, Anita, who's been like a rock through all of this. I guess should also thank my first ex-wife, who came to visit us on Monday for dinner. She and Anita hit it off so well I think I'm in trouble. I'm afraid to leave them in a room together alone.
I met with my doctor today. He said I'm actually doing above average... I'd hate to know what below average feels like. He says I shouldn't feel much worse during this next week's treatment, but there's six weeks of recovery after the treatment is over and I can expect my symptoms to get worse during the first two of those weeks. Lovely. Then it's all uphill. Talk to you again soon.
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