Uttc's Blog

March 25

March 25, 2010 at 8:08 PM | Posted in Treatment Journal | Leave a comment

Its been a while, so time for an update.  Things have really changed.  On the good side, my taste buds have some back.  Still not like before chemo, but I can taste foods and beverages now, and have a full appetite.

My hearing is still shot.  NO CHANGE since last time.  Ringing and deafness.  Its often very hard to understand speech, even though I can hear the sounds.

I have developed very bothersome nuropathy in my feet and fingers.  My feet are constantly tingling.  They go numb after any amount of walking.  And, they often hurt, especially in the evenings and at night.  This is currently the worse side-effect I have going other than the permanent hearing damage.   My fingers are mostly just a little numb in the fingertips, but not too painful or tingly.  Daily foot pain is not fun though.

I still have some digestion problems, some kind of irratable bowel disease or something.  Without going into details, lets just say I haven’t had a “normal” stool in months.  Gassy, soft, sometimes liquid.  Quite often, when I have to go, I have to go “RIGHT NOW!”  Very hard to control. 

I’m still haveing some heartburn and indigestion issues as well, but not as bad as during the last rounds of chemo.

I have a CT scan scheduled for next week, but that won’t likely tell me much, and will be more of a baseline for more ct scans as time goes on.  I home the chemo worked, but I must honestly sway I have my doubts given my di9gestion problems.  There was cancer in the lymph nodes there, and I suspect there still is.  Time will tell.

Again, I reiterate, if you can avoid chemo, avoid it.  Accept the treatment only if you have no other choice or option for survival.  It has changed my quality of life forever.  NOT cancer, but CHEMO!