Good update - Thursday

Well, it's Thursday and since Dave has been too busy to update this, I guess I should let everyone know how he is doing.

We went and saw Dr. Debo on Monday - very good appointment, took forever, but we had a good discussion about what Dave had experienced over the previous week. He confirmed what we thought about the steroids and Dave's sense of taste. Essentially the Prednisone (steroid) drastically reduced the swelling in Dave's mouth, which made eating and tasting measurably better. And once Dave was off the Prednisone, the swelling resumed and thus brought back the thick spit, and messed up taste. It also changed the environment in Dave's mouth that allowed the bacteria in Dave's mouth to develop into a yeast infection (thrush), which accounted for the sore mouth, sore and coated tongue, and the white patches on the side of his mouth. We actually have the medication to clear it up at home, just needed Dr. Debo's confirmation on what was going on. So Dave is now on 5 Mycelex troches (lozenges) a day - and it has pretty much cleared up all the infection as I am typing this. Yeast infections have been pretty much a common side effect throughout the past few months of treatment. We have another appointment with Dr. Debo next Wednesday - to check on Dave's progress - to ensure the infection is gone, to see about the status of his ears, since we couldn't ascertain really any progress with his mouth in pain. The MRI did state that he had a mucous retention cyst in his left maxillary sinus, which could be causing pressure on his Eustachian tube, causing the hearing loss, but it is nothing to be worried about. It is a common occurrence, as the radiation has disrupted his lymphatic system in his neck, so his body has to develop other avenues or routes to get rid of or process the fluids. Other than that - Dave's MRI is normal - which is very good news.

So as Dave is sucking on his troche - we are continuing to find ways to keep Dave busy. We started tackling the interior painting with the stairwell and upstairs hallway. Tuesday we put on the first coat, yesterday Dave knocked out all the doors, and today we put on the second coat - tomorrow is all the white trim or we are going to take a break and head out on the water for some fishing or cruising the intercoastal. The weather has been beautiful over the past few days - 70-80's and tomorrow there should be no wind - perfect for the Chesapeake.

Well David just got home from school, and I have to finish removing the tape from the trim. Take care and it is so nice to have Dave back up - almost like his old self.