RT 25 boost 2

I had the grumpy driver again today, who usually takes me all round the houses, but since there was apparently a massive traffic jam on the roads to Tilburg which made him chuckle each time it was mentioned on the radio, we went a fairly direct town to town route with no problems.


Zap was standard as always. Scouse tech was quite chatty today, she was pleased to see I was talking easier and also said how surprised she was I was still eating and drinking ok. Her way of putting it made sense to me. My skin is quite red and angry looking, where the radiation has been applied, though in truth its not bothering me a huge amount,but inside my neck is going to be just as angry and irritated and they would normally expect me to be having a lot of problems from that.

Aside from the absolute agony from the burn/sore on my tongue, I really am not having any major issues.OxyContin, the morphine like drug I am taking for pain is controlling the tongue pain quite well and I also have a lidocaine gel to apply to the sores if it flairs up. So all in all the pain management is going well.

Drs Oie said it was ok for me to take another OxyContin before bed, as it tends to have worn off by bedtime and I often wake up when I scrape my tongue in my sleep, so that will help. Other than that he's happy with progress.

Time for a recap then. At the moment I've got a pretty interesting collection of drugs going on,
Fluconazol Sandoz to keep Candida at bay...seems to be effective.

Caphosol to handle mucositis, which seems to be doing well aside form the established sore on my tongue which it helps with, the fact I have no mucositis elsewhere in my mouth seems to suggest its working well.

Lidocain gel...which I have to be careful I don't swallow as it will numb my throat and make swallowing quite tricky, though its effects are temporary and wear off after 20 mins or so, it is quite welcome when things flair up.

Oxycontin the high end painkiller which is a morphine substitute with pretty much the same effects as other opiates.
I also still pop a few ibuprofen or paracetamol since the Oxycontin takes a while to reach full effect but prefer the immediate relief of the lidocain.

I'm still eating and drinking ok, though I have taken to using the lidocaine before I eat to avoid pain.

The Oxycontin does leave me a little dull of mind and needing frequent naps, also as with all opiates its giving me a bit of constipation, though so far not total, and I've been given a script for some laxatives to ease things along.

I'm still in overall good condition, to everyones surprise at the clinic, low stamina and drug induced sleepiness not withstanding I'm bearing up well and as the radiation field levels become reduced from this point on I should start healing and getting back to normal.
Mentally as I say am a bit dull from the Oxycontin and getting things done can be quite an effort of will but thats the drugs rather than me. I would rather go for a nap than put my shoes on sometimes.

Taste is still off, but seems mainly based around an aversion to fatty foods, so I am avoiding them, as well as acidic fruits.
Saliva levels are still ok, only really find my mouth is dry in the mornings, and water /coffee hits the spot quite well.

Actually thinking about this, i think I'm in better nick than I was last week, how much that is due to the Oxycontin helping with pain I don't know but I do very much feel like we're on the home straight now and and looking forward to the end