Irradiated and Irritated

So, a lot has happened since my last post.

A few weeks ago I had another CT scan, and the results were good. My doctor told me the nodes in my neck were in "necrosis" (meaning they are dying) and I was allowed to proceed with radiation. I was really anxious about the test since it would have been a major bummer if I had needed to go back for a few more sessions after my "end of chemo" party.

My radiation began about two weeks ago and as of right now I think everything is still going according to plan. As of today, I have received 10 (out of probably 25) treatments. The process isn't really all that different from getting an MRI or CT scan. Every morning I go in the room and lie on my back on a table and then get rolled into a big machine to get blasted. The treatment itself is painless, although when it happens I can feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up, accompanied by a weird metallic taste in the back of my throat. The whole thing takes maybe 5 minutes (the actual treatment is in 2 10-second bursts at different angles). I'm only receiving radiation on the left half of my neck (where all the swollen nodes were).

Since radiation is every weekday (at 8:45 AM damnit!), the nurses try to do everything they can to get me in and out of there quickly. Once I'm on the table, there are lasers in the room that the nurses line up with marks they made on my body so I'm in the exact same position every time. Consequently, I have a bunch of weird sharpie lines drawn all over my neck and chest. I sort of look like I've joined a gang or a weird cult or something. A few strangers have asked me what the marks are for, and it is sort of funny to watch them squirm when I reply, "I have cancer." Maybe that's not very nice but I find it amusing.

While the radiation treatments themselves are not painful, the past few days I have been experiencing increasing pain in my throat/esophagus. Although I knew this was likely, I had no idea it would be as bad as it has now become. It started last week with a permanent lump in my throat, and has slowly progressed to pretty severe pain every time I swallow (and sometimes even when I take a sip of water). Basically it is the world's worst sore throat. Eating has become a pretty annoying and painful procedure. I've been proscribed ever-increasingly powerful syrups to sooth my throat, but unfortunately nothing really seems to be working. Yesterday I was in so much pain they gave me liquid hydrocodone which doesn't really help either, but it at least it zonks me out enough to where I no longer really care.

Once again, the treatment is totally confusing my body. I've been producing an obscene amount of saliva, apparently because my mouth thinks it needs to clear whatever obstruction is in my esophagus. As a result, I'm swallowing (now with bonus pain!) constantly, which in turn causes me to burp all the time. I'm also getting the hiccups on an almost daily basis which is really annoying. Right now I've had the hiccups for about two hours. Any grandmotherly advice for how to get rid of them will gladly be accepted. Luckily I only have to put up with this for a few more weeks.