Taking the good with the bad...

JC F · January 2016

So, haven't been here for awhile. Coming up to the two year mark since initial diagnosis and a year and a half since the chemo and rads. Have had a total of 5 CT scans, 3 PET scans, 2 FNA biopsies and the original surgical biopsy in this two year span. After all of this I'm told that everything is clear as far as the cancer goes which is great, and my thyroid still checks out ok, but the after-effects have been somewhat disappointing. The taste depending on what it is can be described as 50% full taste, 25% some taste but different and not generally good, and 25% little to no taste. Saliva better than before but still not that great, always need a bottle of water around. Still have residual neuropathy in the tips of four fingers in my right hand. Also often have days where my head feels very heavy and headachy and get quite tired. This happens quite a bit. Onc says these are all related to the treatment which I'm aware of but does not make them easier to deal with. I'm obviously glad to be alive but some days are just hard to deal with...

MarineE5 · January 2016

I hear you loud and clear

JC F,

It truly is a slow process in the recovery of our Surgeries and Treatments here in the Head and Neck Department. Like you I must have a water bottle with me at all times as I have zero saliva. Taste is fair at best and many times I just can't taste anything. I tend to eat the same things I can taste and blend in the foods I can't with the ones I can during dinner.

Like you, some days my head feels like I have a Tire on my shoulders it feels so heavy. But like you I am grateful to be here to write about it and Blessed to watch our grandkids grow. We do the best we can with what we have and will continue to do so.

My Best to You and Everyone Here

wmc · February 2016

Glad you checked in

It is said that H&N is the second worse treatment you can go through. The side effects can be brutle and some just keep coming. Others, like tast just take so long to recover from and sliva can be a long time and some never. Many lose a lot of there hearing. It is a good day when you get to open your eyes each day.

Bill 10/02/2013

JC F · February 2016

wmc said:
Glad you checked in
It is said that H&N is the second worse treatment you can go through. The side effects can be brutle and some just keep coming. Others, like tast just take so long to recover from and sliva can be a long time and some never. Many lose a lot of there hearing. It is a good day when you get to open your eyes each day.

Bill 10/02/2013

Guilt

Sometimes I feel guilty feeling down about my side-effects when I see how a lot of others are suffering from this beast...

Grandmax4 · February 2016

Never feel guilty

We're all here to lift you up when you're down, share your joys, vent~~it doesn't matter. We all go through the "why me's" and things are diffferent after the treatments...I'm 4 years,3 months out, have been declared cured by my team, and yet, sometimes the doubts still creep in. Take care

Sonja.K · February 2016

Grandmax4 said:
Never feel guilty
We're all here to lift you up when you're down, share your joys, vent~~it doesn't matter. We all go through the "why me's" and things are diffferent after the treatments...I'm 4 years,3 months out, have been declared cured by my team, and yet, sometimes the doubts still creep in. Take care

Mrs.BD and I went to lunch

Mrs.BD and I went to lunch yesterday and were talking about exactly that, when those doubts creep in. She said she talked to a nurse at her clinic and wondered if heart patients, etc go through the same fears. The nurse said no, cancer is different. It seems like it gets a little easier with time.

Barbaraek · February 2016

JC F said:
Guilt
Sometimes I feel guilty feeling down about my side-effects when I see how a lot of others are suffering from this beast...

It's all relative

When you are in the thick of chemoradiation you think, I don't care about taste, just kill these cancer cells and get me through this treatment. But once you're finished treatment, you start thinking aboout returning to the "normal" you had before...and often that's impossible. You have to adjust to your new "abi-normal". I think it's very natural to be pissed off or sad about that. I think that's when it's a good time to remember how far you've come, and what you've been through - and you can perhaps take a deep breath and keep moving forward.

The good thing is - you have many people here who understand exactly how you feel because they have lived it too...and they are therefore very accepting and supportive. So always feel free to come and vent, or complain if it helps, and then draw some inspiration and take the day as it comes.

Barbara

CivilMatt · February 2016

mostly good

JC F,

Taste off
Dry mouth
Heavy head
Fatigue
Water bottle, always
Thyroid, toast
New normal, pretty good

Matt

the_wife · February 2016

CivilMatt said:
mostly good

JC F,

Taste off

Dry mouth

Heavy head

Fatigue

Water bottle, always

Thyroid, toast

New normal, pretty good

Matt

Keep your eye on the prize

Keep your eye on the prize and don't look back. I think it's normal to feel guilty when you see others going through much worse. I sometimes feel guilty that my husband got HPV cancer and I didn't. And as as breast cancer survivor, I still sometimes feel guilty that my best friend died from it and I didn't. But you can't focus on that. In reality, we're all just "walking each other home."

Happy Healing!

Hondo · February 2016

Hi JC F

I guess it all has it good and bad parts to go through, maybe someday they will have one little pill to heal everything. For now we do what we must to stay alive. I am right at my 14 year from first treatment and just being alive is an everyday blessing.

All the best to you in your walk of life

Tim

Taking the good with the bad...

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