2 months after last radiation treatment

swimbody

I was a non believer when my radiologist at MD Anderson told me that it could take 2 months to have the effects of radiation end. I'm so happy to say that it's now approaching the end of week 8 and no more damn ulcers!!! Hallelujah! I am noticing a funny thing and that's the back of my mouth, call it the roof of the area that is in front of the epiglottis. It feels weird, almost rough to the touch and a little bit, I dunno, chalky (no mouth tissue is coming apart), if that makes sense. I tried to eat chicken again (breast meat) and it was getting a little dry in my mouth if I didn't keep taking sips of water. Perhaps this is a healing thing going on, perhaps those cells are starting to wake up but figured I'd post here to see if anyone had similar things going on.

Also, did anyone notice how tender the muscles are that support the neck are after the radiation turned off? I was feeling one of the sternocleidomastoid muscles (on the side where I was radiated), wow is that sucker sore. I'm swimming like a fish now so that's probably doubling up the pain with all the turning of my head but I'm wondering...when the radiation stopped, did the body say, "Hey, it's time to heal suckers, get to healing?" I wonder if that's where the pain is from. I still notice a scab in my throat so I'm assuming that's healing. As Stephie said, I am having scanophobia awaiting my CT scan April 4th followed one month late with the PET. This waiting absolutely sucks.

One other thing. Does anybody notice that their internal thermostat makes them cold all the time after this treatment? Does that get better? I used to be pretty warm-blooded and it has kept me out of the surf right now in the spring here in Texas. I could have easily been out surfing already by this time in 60° temperatures with water temps at 60°. Just curious if anybody else has noticed this. I feel like I'm my grandparents age and how they were cold all the time.

I also told you guys I was taking a very intense amount of homeopathic detox solutions in alkaline water to rid the body of any further disease before the scans. If anyone is interested I can share the tinctures and the doctor who I'm working with in Tampa. It's been incredible to see what's been moving through my body.

wbcgaruss

wbcgaruss

The comment above failed and I don't know how to fix it but anyway So it sounds like the effects of radiation are finally at a point where you feel the effects are going the other way and receding. So it seems you are on the right timeline and the radiologists work with this every day and have a good handle on it. I am glad your ulcers are letting up what a relief. I would say your mouth and neck issues are still in recovery from the major assault that is radiation. Things are hit really hard for weeks and are going through changes and they now have to recover and go back to a normal state. I have found an interesting explanation of radiation I am reading and it states this in one part--

Radiation doesn’t always kill cancer cells or normal cells right away. It might take days or even weeks of treatment for cells to start dying, and they may keep dying off for months after treatment ends. Tissues that grow quickly, such as skin, bone marrow, and the lining of the intestines are often affected right away. In contrast, nerve, breast, brain, and bone tissue show later effects. For this reason, radiation treatment can cause side effects that might not be seen until long after treatment is over.

Here is the Article from ACS for anyone interested and it explains well--

https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/CRC/PDF/Public/6151.00.pdf

As far as temperature changes I have been cold and hot especially during treatment, after I was not driving myself anymore to treatments my drivers would let me control the heating/cooling in the car according to what I was feeling that day, even changing during the trip there and back. That effect lasted for a while and I would be extremely cold all of a sudden and suddenly hot in the same way. This effect too is gone for me and so will your many effects and oddities be gone one of these days.

I still remember my radiation docs nurse saying quite frankly to me "You might as well figure a year out of your life to get through this" meaning your full recovery. A year? We say. Seems long. Well, it turns out she was right about on the money. So you just need patience and dealing with the things at hand as they come up and someday you will be past all this. It may take a year, it may take less, it may take more but be assured you will be back to the normal Graham before you know it.

Take care-God Bless-Russ