I wake up each morning with some thick spit in my mouth that I immediately have to spit up into the sink and then rinse my mouth out. I think this is caused by the dry mouth that I'm still experiencing. Seems like I have to carry around a bottle of water with me at all times and keep drinking small amounts of it.
The whiskers on my face have all grown back from my jawline up, but from the jawline down it's still as smooth as a baby's A**. The hair on the back of neck still hasn't grown back and is just as smooth, but at least most of the hair on my head has grown in just fine. It is considerable finer than it used to be, but I'm getting used to that.
As far as food goes, I can eat just about anything, but foods with a lot of breading, chips, crackers and that type of food don't get broken down very well inside my mouth due to the lack of saliva, so I tend to stay away from most foods like that.
My weight is still down about 20-25 pounds from where I used to be, but I feel good and am trying to gain it back but it just doesn't seem to want to come back. I started back at the gym so maybe I'll gain muscle back and not beer gut or fat.
Other than that I'm feeling pretty good. After talking to my Oncologist and ENT doctor, they both seem to share the same point of view in that those side effects, dry mouth and loss of hair on my neck, may never get back to the way they used to be and I might end of dealing with both of those for the rest of my life.
I'm scheduled for a Laryngoscopy on the 13th of August. Dr. Debo wants to do a biopsy of my tonsil just be sure that no cancer is present. I'm hoping this will be clear and if it is, I'll just start having CT scans every 6 months or so for the next five years with quarterly visits to the Oncologist and ENT doctor.
I've been doing a lot of fishing lately and have met some pretty cool people in the process that not only have boats that can get to where the fish are, but have the knowledge of fishing in this area and don't mind passing along there fishing tips.
I fished with a guy yesterday that is retired from the Navy and had tonsil cancer. He is a cancer survivor of two years. Boy oh boy did him and I have a lot to talk about. He's also still experiencing some of the side effects that I'm dealing with. Dry mouth is the major one and lack of taste in some foods. He unfortunately had to have all of his teeth removed prior to his radiation which seems to be common in a lot of people who have had to have radiation therapy in the neck region. Fortunately, I did not have to go through that. Anyway, it was really interesting talking to him yesterday about his experiences and how he's dealing with things today.
Here are a couple of pics from us fishing yesterday. We cruised 12.2 miles out to the Chesapeake light tower and got a total of 16 Spadefish. Myself and new friend Tommy caught about 8 on rod and reels and my friends Jamie (the cancer survivor) and John the Captain of the boat shot the rest with spear guns while snorkeling around the tower.
