Well, it has been three weeks now since the end of treatment. The doctors had told me to expect an increase of pain beginning about a week after treatment. They were right. The mouth sores were pretty spectacular. Those began about one week post treatment. Taste buds were gone, of course and pain with eating became pretty intense. Basically my daily routine is to take tylenol and Ibuprophen every 6 hours and then at meal time to rinse with a viscous lidocaine solution and then a second topical anesthetic that is even stronger and then eat quick before the anesthetic wears off. Oh, and I drink an "Ensure Plus" every meal to try and hold onto my weight. After that I run to the sink and try to brush and floss and then spit blood for the next few minutes. Then I rinse with anesthetic again. Even doing all of that I lost about 18 pounds. Frankly eating is no fun anymore. After about two weeks my doctors here determined that I had a herpes infection on top of the mouth sores so they started me on Acyclover and that helped. I was showing some improvement and then started getting worse again. Another visit to the doctor revealed a sinus infection had come up. I started some amoxicillin about two days ago and now I am seriously feeling better. This morning I woke up and thought, "wow, I don't hardly hurt". I haven't eaten breakfast yet but still, that is serious improvement.
My doctor from Mayo has been so nice. He has emailed me multiple times checking on me and suggesting what I should do. I couldn't ask for a more kind, caring doctor than Dr. Foote. So, I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have been so tired lately too. I'm hoping that in the next few days that begins to grow less as well.
As always, I am so grateful for the prayers and faith of others in my behalf. Thank you! Four weeks ago we were told that there was no hope for my survival. Today I am just dealing with a sore mouth. That is a big step forward in my book. Truly a miracle. Thank you for helping that miracle happen for us.
By the way, here is a picture of the bird back in Minnesota that kept swooping down and grabbing my hair every morning when JoLynne and I were walking. That was really weird. I have cut my curls off now. You just can't walk around with your hair looking like nesting material, it's just too dangerous.
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Recovery
Monday, July 1, 2013
Four down, one to go!
Pretty photogenic right? |
This is a High tech machine! |
Yesterday after church we drove to Wisconsin to look at the Mississippi. There is a park bench down there that we happened upon about 18 months ago that we believe had a message from God to us. We have looked but have never been able to find again. (See blog from 10/9/2011) Anyway, this time we managed to find it. The writing on the bench was faded but still legible. It says;
"It's okay to have bad day's, hold on, be strong"
Still good advice 18 months later.
This blog started out as a way to keep people who were worried up to date about my treatments. I hope that it has served that purpose well. Like many things it has grown into something somewhat unexpected. Unless you leave a comment I don't really know who is looking at this blog. I can, however, see maps of where it is being looked at. It is something that I don't fully comprehend. Most of the views are from the United States, that isn't surprising. What does surprise me is the number of people who are following from countries all over the world. From what I see I am approaching nearly 70,000 views. Many of those viewing are from Russia, Canada, Latvia, China, Germany, Spain, Denmark etc... I have traveled to many of your countries providing humanitarian service as a dentist. Perhaps some of you are following for that reason. Perhaps some of you are people I have never met. For whatever reason, I am happy to have you follow along. I hope that my experiences have in some way helped you to meet your own challenges in life. The prevailing message that I hope my blog conveys is to live with hope. For me that hope largely comes from my faith in God and from the faith and love of others who surround me.
The shag carpet car. |
Okay, here is the random thing we saw on Saturday. We made a wrong turn and came upon the most lovely car I have seen in a while. I'm not sure why someone would do this but it is unique. The car is completely covered in shag carpet and then has a few bones glued on to make it extra special. The question is: Would you wash your car or vacuum it?
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