UPDATE WEEK 5 DAY 4

I'm in my 24th RT and just completed my 5th CT on Tuesday.  Looks like I only have one more CT to go next Tuesday and 11 more RT.  I'm well over my half way mark and thats a consolation.  After that its recovery and rebuilding although a lot of the previous NPC survivors say the effects really peaks 2 weeks after the last treatment.  I'm praying that wont be the case for me because 2 weeks would end a few days before Christmas!

My daily bowl of meds

I no longer feel like I'm swallowing rocks, I'd say the feeling now is swallowing blades. To make matters worse, the throat is inflamed and so that makes the swallowing reflex difficult.  I'm on some kind of gargle medication (some kind of steroids) that brings down the inflamation almost immediately.  I'm covered round the clock with an aspirin gargle that numbs the throat long enough to eat my food. Oral painkillers are also in the menu of drugs together with antibiotics.  (druggy!)

The nights are toughest because the throat and mouth dries out and I have to wake up at every hour to moisten by drinking water or gargle.   I average 4 hours of sleep a night.  When the throat dries up, it becomes very painful in the morning when I have to do the aspirin gargle...thats when the blades come out! 

As for weight, I'm now averaging 67Kgs which means I've lost 5Kgs in my 5th week.  Nurses say 1Kg a week is acceptable.

  

Please continue to pray for complete healing through this process.  That after the whole treatment there will be no  trace of the tumor or cancer cells. 

Please also pray for a lessening of the symptoms as I head towards the end of the treatment. 

PSALM 71

Your righteousness O God reaches the high heavens

You who have done great things O God who is like you?

You who made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again

From the depths of the earth you will bring me up again

You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.

Amen!