Australia Day

It should have been a day of celebration and enjoying the company of family and friends. Unfortunately for me, it was the day on which the pain level I was experiencing increased substantially.

I had a great night's sleep, waking at 6.30am. My mouth was very dry, my tongue and bottom lip were very painful, my neck was sore and my throat was excrutiating.

The first thing I did was check my tongue and lips as they had been sore previously, but nothing like they were now. One look and it became obvious what was wrong.

My bottom lip had swollen to around twice its normal size, large blisters under the top layer of skin and at least one section bleeding. The tip of my tongue was so red it looked like Rudolph's nose.

The pain in my throat was extreme. I couldn't even swallow what little saliva I had left in my mouth without it sending a shot of pain right through me. I can fully understand why patients lose weight. I simply have no desire to eat anything while it hurts so much.

The Doctors and Nurses had explained the normal treatments to manage these side-effects, starting with the Difflam mouth wash, and Lignocaine mouth wash. I used the Difflam mouth was, because frankly it tasted better and was easire to use. The Lignocaine is truly vulgar, not in taste (it has a bubblegum flavour) but in texture and simplicity to use. I then smothered my lip in Sorbalene.

Throughout the day I would try to relieved the pain in my lip by applying a range of ointments, including aloe vera directly from a plant in our garden. While the ointments seemed to help a bit, none relieved the pain or reduced the size of my lip.

I didn't much feel like eating, but despite the pain I knew that I had to. My home made muesli gets soft when pooled in a bowl of milk, so this was reasonably easy to eat. I followed this with an Up N Go drink. I then had some Panadol and Nurefin, plus my antibiotic drug (for the rash).

I did my M&R Routine and had a shower. This made me feel a little better.

After my shower, I laid down in the lounge and basically stayed there for most of the day, including falling asleep when visitors came over to have a swim. I wasn't deliberately being rude, I just felt the best way to avoid the pain was to sleep. Our visitors came over while I was asleep, and they were kind enough to leave me that way. I woke up mid-afternoon to say g'day before they left, and went for a quick dip in the pool, before drying off and heading back inside. Our home has reverse cycle airconditioning so it was very comfortable.

I decided a trip to the Pharmacy was warranted to purchase something for my tongue and some Sustagen. I had the Sustagen, mixed with milk, ice, ice cream and yoghurt for lunch. And then had some more Panadol and Nurefin.

I laid down when I had brushed my teeth, and must have fallen asleep again becuase I woke up at 7 o'clock and our visitors had left.

I wasn't particularly hungry and also not motivated to eat when I woke up due to the constant pain in my mouth and throat. Nevertheless, Vicki had planned a fillet steak dinner with steamed vegies and mash. I love my fillet steak with pepper sauce, but was not really looking forward to pepper sauce, so Vicki prepared a standard gravy.

Prior to eating I used the Lignocaine mouth wash. It is foul to use, but helps to relieve the pain in my mouth. Vicki also found some Difflam anti-inflamatory throat spray, which helped a bit. These, together with the Panadol and Nurefin, allowed to eat reasonably easily with the aid of the mash and the sauce, but the pain was still there.

I can really understand why patients going through this decide not to eat.

I was quite restless that night, as I made frequent trips to our ensuite to apply ointments, sprays, mouthwashes and whatever else I could find to help relieve the pain. My lip remained swollen and sore, but the ointment I got from the Pharmacy that afternon helped to relieve my tongue. I completed my M&T Routine and went to bed around 10.15. It was not a good day.