It's been 10 years since I was diagnosed with Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma... cancer. I started this blog to share the many emotions, fears, experiences and, hopefully, triumphs that I will face throughout this journey. I have two goals for this blog, 1. To gain some degree of personal therapeutic benefit and, 2. To help others who may one day face a similar struggle by detailing the process of diagnosis, treatment and recovery so that they may know what to expect.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

2 Weeks Post Treatment

October 19, 2006 - Two weeks since the end of treatments and no significant changes. My skin is slowly clearing up although it has become very dry and flakey requiring lots of lotion. The cracking around the tips of my fingers is still an issue but seems to be getting a little better. Mouth and throat discomfort is all but gone. However, still no improvement in terms of taste. Chewing gum helps maintain saliva and, at least temporarily, removes the lingering bad taste that is otherwise ever present. I hope to have more significant improvement next week. On Tuesday and see Dr. Dar for a first follow up and the following Monday and see Dr. Califano. That's really all I have for now.

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Glad to hear you're getting a little relief. Hang in there!

9:23 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Michael,
Several of us here at TomoTherapy have been following your cancer fight. I just wanted to post our encouragement and tell you that we are all hoping for your complete recovery.
Fred Robertson

3:44 PM

 
Blogger Unknown said...

Hey Man,

Sounds like you're making good progress, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for your follow up appointments.

Brian Mistretta

1:10 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mike,

I'm glad to hear that you're feeling better abeit in a relative sense. I'm sure that tonight's win over Florida State made you feel a little better if only for a few hours. It's early and much is left to be decided but if UMd ends up playing PSU in a bowl we should get together to watch the game. I'm looking forward to hearing more about you're progress.

Greg

11:55 PM

 
Blogger mikeschafer said...

Greg -

Thanks. About the bowl, I know you don't want to see your boy D-Will get pawned by his hometown team! LOL!

1:30 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That's not funny dude. The PSU offense is quite frankly offensive. I wouldn't be all that surprised to see him transfer. Morelli flat out sucks and if PSU doesn't get better QB play D Williams won't get any meaningful touches. Any way... take care of yourself and I look forward to hearing more updates.

7:19 PM

 

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