Day 19 - Lunch on the Harbour

Once again, I woke with an extremely sore throat, lips and tongue. To be honest, it was starting to get me down. The pain was unrelenting and my mouth was also completely dry.

I vowed to speak to my oncologist on Tuesday, but as I woke, I told myself I'd try to get an appointment on Monday.

I washed my mouth with Difflam, as this seemed to help kickstart the saliva in my mouth, and it effectively changed the underlying taste to a minty flavour. It also provided relief from the pain for around an hour and a half. Importantly, it provided enough relief for me to eat, which was getting harder by the minute.

I had my home made muesli again, drowning in milk as usual, plus an Up N Go drink. Shortly after I had a shower and completed my mouth, face and neck hygiene routine.

I haven't done any exercise since the pain increased. I just haven't wanted to.

I was invited to lunch by two clients, which I agreed to a little over a week ago, prior to the pain getting to this stage. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Until I had to leave, I did some more work.

I met my clients at Joe's Fish Shack in Fremantle a little after midday. Prior to leaving home, I washed my mouth and throat with Lignocaine and had some Panadol and Nurefin. It needed to last me until around 4.30pm because I was going directly to the hospital after lunch for my radiotherapy session.

I ate a Caeser Salad with chicken, with mash on the side, which I used to help eat the chicken. Mash has been helpful in eating because it acts like a lubricant. With it I can still tolerate complete meals.

The lunch was excellent, the food good and importantly, it got me out of the house and thinking about something other than the pain I was feeling. I really enjoyed it.

My radiotherapy session was scheduled for 3pm, so around 2.15 I said my goodbyes and thank yous and left to go to hospital. I arrived in plenty of time and having known I was going directly from lunch, had taken my tooth brush, so I brushed my teeth. I've seen the damage radiotherapy can do to teeth, so I'm keen to make sure I keep up my M&T Routine after every meal.

By the time I left the hospital, my throat and lip were very sore once again. I was still using the cocoa butter lip balm, which helped my lip, but I had to wait until I got home to wash my mouth with Difflam. I did this as soon as I got home. I also had more Panadol and Nurefin so that I could eat my dinner.

I was pretty tired so I laid down and had a nap. I woke at 6.30, with a dry mouth as usual and my lip and throat extremely sore again. This time I used the Difflam mouth wash, but decided rather than a full meal, I'd have some soup and a Sustagen smoothie. It was all I cold swallow.

I didn't feel like doing much so I just sat in front of the tele for the night. I completed my M&T Routine, face and neck hygiene routine and went to bed around 9.30. I read for a short while before going to sleep, still in a lot of pain.