Hard to eat

keep_the_faith said:

Hi Hondo
You got off cheap. It cost me $800. I went to the hospital by ambulance - what a rip off for a 5 minute ride. Never again, I'll drive myself. Okay, so you crush your pills. I have a pill crusher too but I don't think that the Vitamin E horsepills come in a crushable pill, only gels. I did find a bottle of liquid vitamins at Costco.

P.S. I also felt like a knuclehead when I tried to swallow that multivitamin horsepill. I knew it was too big.

First Class

I only went first class once to the hospital and the ride was so bad and ruff it almost killed me. Then the guy in the back with me was trying to get an IV started that is when all hell broke out. Finial I just said hold on how far are we from the hospital he say about 1 or 2 mins OK I said lets just wait but I die of you sticking me to death. He did not like that too much. He he he

Wishing you well
╠╣ONDO

D Lewis said:

Same here!
Still struggling somewhat, to eat normally, 18 months later. I had the surgery/radiation/chemo combination. I never got a stricture, but I have trouble swallowing. I discussed it again with my Stanford doc yesterday. The radiation apparently causes fibrosis of the throat muscles. They still work, only not so well, and the muscles don't all work together. A bite of food doesn't get hung up anywhere, but it can take three or four swallows before it gets all the way down. Water helps push it along. He says it will probably always be like this now.

Dry mouth - I have so many coping mechanisms now, as I need to do a lot of talking at work, and sometimes public speaking. I have a small bag of ALL the Biotene products in my purse - which is now a small backpack, to allow me to carry along all the water I will need. Spray, gel, rinse, gum, toothpaste, fluoride floss...

Deb

on public speaking
My occupation required a lot of speaking. All day type commitment. When radiation burned my tongue and dried me out to where it was impossible to do this, my disability insurance, which I had paid handsomely to own, kicked in. After paying for a few months, the company decided unilaterally and against my ENT oncologist's written advice, that i was well and could work full time. Enter the lawyers. I had to sue them to get them to pay. Had none of this happened, I would have recoverd enough speech function within probably two years to be back at things full time.

When the smoke cleared, they settled with me out of court for a large sum. In effect, they bought the policies back from me. Nowadays I don't have disability insurance, but they paid more than I would have asked for if they'd just cooperated. A rather strange little footnote to the speech related disability created by radiation.

longtermsurvivor said:

on public speaking
My occupation required a lot of speaking. All day type commitment. When radiation burned my tongue and dried me out to where it was impossible to do this, my disability insurance, which I had paid handsomely to own, kicked in. After paying for a few months, the company decided unilaterally and against my ENT oncologist's written advice, that i was well and could work full time. Enter the lawyers. I had to sue them to get them to pay. Had none of this happened, I would have recoverd enough speech function within probably two years to be back at things full time.

When the smoke cleared, they settled with me out of court for a large sum. In effect, they bought the policies back from me. Nowadays I don't have disability insurance, but they paid more than I would have asked for if they'd just cooperated. A rather strange little footnote to the speech related disability created by radiation.

Hi longterm

I have to do training for the maintenance system I use at work and sometimes that take a full 4 hours of speaking to complete. When I am finish my throat is so dry that it get sore sometimes so I started using my Stoppers 4 dry-mouth spray and found that it really help when having to speak all the time.

Wishing you well
╠╣ONDO

keep_the_faith said:

Hate Needles
I just hate needles and pratically have an anxiety attack when it comes to IV's. I have floating veins. But, the last time I was at the hospital the pre-op nurse told me she was going to give me an IV like they do for children. They shot me with an air gun that had lidocaine. My arm numbed very fast, then the nurse did the IV. There was absolutely no pain. I asked her why they didn't do this treatment for adults and she told me that they only do this for children. Boy, the next time I go to the hospital I'm asking for this treatment again.

Anne

You have a right
to ask for this help. And you have a right to request an expert start your IV's, as in "no students, IV needs started by anesthesia, etc." You know how hard it is to get these in you. The hospital help does not. Just tell them nicely but firmly.

longtermsurvivor said:

I finally got over this
scalded tongue thing. but I expect to get it back in spades when I'm radiated again. I've already ordered the stoppers, even though I don't start radiation for a while. In my memory, these symptoms developed pretty quickly the first time. thanks.

2nd time around
.
Just remember we will all be here for you when you start and do all we can to help you through.

Hondo

keep_the_faith said:

You're right
The time before I went to the hospital last, I told the pre-op nurse that I wanted someone from the Infusion Dept. The anesthesiologist told me this and I told the nurse but her response was, "Don't you think I can do it?" Again, I told her I would like someone from the Infusion Dept. She told me she'd try but came back two minutes later and said there was no one in the dept. available. When I was in the hospital last September, the pre-admit nurse told me to call the Infusion Dept. directly to make these arrangements. With all the money this hospital has, they just did a major rennovation with marble siding inside, waterfalls, palm trees, you'd think they could accommodate me.

I'm just venting. There are very nice nurses and then there are ones that aren't so accommodating.

you are right
Sometimes we have found you simply have to choose your battles, then dig your heels in very firmly on an issue. I now have a power port, so this isn't a problem. But it was some time back. My most annoying intervention was in the PET scan unit, where without introduction or request for permission, they sent a brand new student to start my IV. My veins have been clobbered recently. I used to be an easy stick, but I'm certainly no easy stick for a rookie now. I decided to wait and see how things went with her, and the tech.

Three sticks later, very bad technique, no apology for hurting me, etc. we finally had the contrast medium in. I called and talked to the director the next day, giving my best "practicing on patients is not a right, it is a privilege" lecture. The point was made, and I suspect transmitted back to the people involved.

If they had caught me in a differentt mood, I'd have simply said "no" to begin with. Your rights are absolute. It just depends on how you see things maturing if you assert them.

Best

keep_the_faith said:

Osmotar
Well, I took your advice. I was able to get a small Vit. B Complex pill down with applesauce without choking.

Things are looking up.

YEAH!!!
Who would have thought that a little bit of applesauce would work...thanks to my onco nurse Pam for the hint.

Linda