My F@$#ing Cancer Blog

This blog won't make much sense to family and friends reading, but to the spouses of other head and neck cancer patients, it will help them try to get in front of the problem. I have seen so many post about "what can I do to help". Of course other caregivers speak up with sound advise. I thought I would put it all out there in one shopping list.     The doctor will have told you at the initial cancer diagnosis that treatment will be terrible. Immune systems will be compromised and you will watch your loved one's health decline day by day. I highly recommend you start doing whatever you can to help reinforce their immune system as much as possible. Give them multivitamins. Substitute herbal teas instead of coffee. One of the few things Ryan has been able to continue drinking the entire treatment is the sore throat tea I started making him. Multivitamins have been a challenge. At first it was the regular adult vitamin. After a couple of weeks, we downgraded to the c

For all of you with a New Year's Resolution, I am proud to announce that as of January 1st, I am back within Navy weight regulations!! Boo-yah. I didn't waste time getting that one knocked out. Ask me for my secret. In my last post, I mentioned that the dreaded beard loss had begun. Well, the fallout happened rather rapidly once it started. I am still seeing some loss, but it seems to have plateaued. I am now faced with the hairy decision of how to style my radiation-sculpted hair scarf. Naturally, I turn to the most reliable source available for sound advice, the inter webs. I can’t trust other sources to stay away from “Beardy McBeardface” type suggestions for my new permanent solution. The internet has never let me down. Here is where we started: Gotta say, That is one good looking man! And now this is where we are now: While the change in glasses was a bold choice and the Chemo Acne and Radiation Burn highlights are a nice touch, I am not sure that the ch

Comments from Carmen will be in RED ... It has been a few weeks since I wrote an update, so I thought it was time. We have completed 5 of the 8 chemotherapy sessions, so we are on the homestretch with my spa days. The radiation sessions have lived down to advertisement as the more challenging aspect of my treatments, and we have only completed 15 of 35 treatments. This is primarily a rundown of what life is like: The only noticeable effect from the chemotherapy has been a resurgence of my early teenage skin quality. The acne which was such a chick magnet in high school (magnetically repulsive that is) combined with my highly unstable voice have made me feel like a teenager again. Here's where Ryan really let his nerdy flag fly! From an engineering standpoint the radiation treatments are fascinating. As I discussed before they lay me flat on my back and use my custom mask to lock my head into place. The technicians then take a couple of minutes to align my body properly.

Chemo! Treatment #5 of 8 is done! One of the side effects we are seeing is  an acne like rash. It's like being a teenager all over again only without the energy levels. I hate to be such a scrooge but January can't get here fast enough! He's been having a hard time eating and swallowing and has realized that having a feeding tube is necessary. I've been giving him multivitamins every morning with his breakfast. First, the regular horse pill kind, then we went to a mint chewable. That didn't last long. A few days ago, we switched to the gummies. That didn't work long at all! This morning he said it felt like he had eaten a ghost pepper. My next line of attack is the liquid form. I already know that whatever flavor additives they put in them is going to be too much, so my plan is to add them into his morning shakes. He thinks they all taste like ass, so what's a little more flavor going to hurt. About those shakes.. at first they were just i

11 December 2017 Last week saw the start of Ryan’s radiation treatment. According to Ryan, treatment itself wasn’t so bad. From my perspective, he’s not back there very long. Other than looking a little sunburned, he didn’t really experience any side effects for the first couple days. By Friday he was starting to feel the dry mouth, a little sore throat, and a major headache that seemed to persist the weekend. I have noticed his decrease in appetite. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still eating. This morning he noted that it was getting a little harder to swallow. I have started a journal in order to keep track of things like his weight, how he feels, and what all he eats. Idealistically, he would take about 3000 calories in. Realistically, the most he’s eaten is about 2300 and that had decreased every day. This morning after his treatment, we got to talk with the doctor and dietician about any questions we may have and update him on any side effects we have seen. I didn’t know we would b

We knew that we were on a time limited participation block with the major portion of Ryan's treatment starting today, so for the past week we have been busting hump on finishing the basement remodeling that we sorta started this past summer. Nothing like a cancer diagnosis to light a fire under your ass! If you haven't seen the Romanian submarine themed pub, click here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3098783/A-night-s-20-000-leagues-sea-Romanian-submarine-bar-complete-torpedoes-radar-systems-takes-clubbers-journey-deep.html That should give you an idea of the look we are kind of going for. With the kids still living with us, it will take a while before we fully achieve the look we are going for. Like everything else in life, it's a work in progress. So while we wait for the finished product, enjoy these work in progress, transformation pictures. I will post more as we go. Suited up Ready to roll! Protecting the rest of the room to spray