Dry As A Desert

I found out yesterday that I am already about halfway through my radiation treatment!  Boo-ya!

Apparently I only have to have seventeen treatments.  There hadn't really been any side effects other than my skin being a little bit tender until yesterday--when the first manifestations of a dry-as-the-desert throat appeared.

Oh, it's dry...  Incredibly so.

For instance, yesterday it hurt to burp (unladylike, I know, but it comes with the cancer territory) because my throat was so dry that instead of just slipping out like usual, the air was getting trapped near my hyoid.  Man, was it uncomfortable!

This morning it's actually even worse.  I've spent the last hour and a half slowly but surely eating a ham and cheese sandwich.  It's not that this thing is the size of a table or anything either.  I just have to take a small bite and chew... and chew... and chew some more.  Then maybe add a little water to the mix, masticate (fancy word for chew) some more, and then swallow.  By that time, my jaw is a little tired and I feel the need to drink some more water in hopes that it will juice my throat up so the next bite doesn't take an hour too.  I've gone through three full glasses of water so far.

For a ham and cheese sandwich.  Good gravy.

The "glass half full" perspective on this is that I'll probably drop the weight I put on from chemo pretty quick!  That will make it easier for me to win the weight loss competition between my husband, father-in-law, sister-in-law, and dad... yet another positive of cancer.

On another note, we're heading back to Iowa again today for my cousin's wedding.  It's going to be a really fast trip.  Like, we'll maybe be there for twenty-four hours fast.  But it's totally worth it!  Weddings are a blast!!

Catch ya'll on the flip side!