10 Weeks Post Treatment

December 15, 2007 - Not really too much to report this week. We've been busy focusing on the holidays, running to and fro.

I did meet with Tonnessen on Monday and that went well. He felt the nodule on the back of my tongue and said that to him it still felt unremarkable, even more so than the last time he felt it. I reached down there too and it still feels like a pea to me. Whatever. I'm going to rely on the PET scan and assume it's nothing at this point. No point in dwelling on it.

On Wednesday I went to a local SPOHNC chapter meeting, my first one. SPOHNC stands or Support for People with Oral Head and Neck Cancer and their website can be found HERE. It's a nice group and there are no mandatory dues although the newsletter costs about $25 per year and they will certainly ask for (and deserve) donations to the cause. The meetings usually have a guest speaker on a topic of interest to people who have undergone treatment for this particular type of cancer. There were about 10 people at this particular meeting and it was very interesting to hear everyones story. One of them, Roger I believe is his name, is a 7 year survivor and it struck me that he is the first person that I've actually met or spoken to who has survived more than 5 years. I know these people exist in the abstract but to meet one in person was nice. The other thing that struck me about the meeting is how fortunate I am that I seem to have tolerated the treatments much better than most. They were all very surprised when I told them that I was only 10 weeks out from the end of my treatments because of how I looked, spoke, etc... Many of these people had a very hard time and have very visible lasting effects even two and three years later. For the most part, I feel almost completely back to normal already.

Taste is still coming back seemingly in chunks. It will stay consistent for several days and even regress a little once in a while but then I'll wake up and it is noticeably better. I can actually enjoy certain foods again.

That's all for now.