Dorothy couldn't have put it better. There is no place like home. Your own stuff, your bed, your pets,
your family. It was a long summer but now I can get back to a little R&R at home and get back to working. I was fortunate to have had enough money stashed away for us to make it but I really need to get back and start finding jobs again.
The big rub in all this revelry about being home is that no one from the cancer center sat down with us to discuss what the recovery period for told. In my mind, I thought 10 days to 2 weeks of laying low and resting while working at getting my swallowing back up to where I can be eating solid foods.
No one told me that my body would be a tortured radiation sponge. I was home no longer than 2 days and I was off to see my local doctor. I couldn't keep food down in either direction. I was totally gagging 24/7 with phlegm build up in my mouth that usually keeps me no farther than 15 ft from a bathroom to rid myself of the nasty stuff. She admitted me to the local hospital. So I spent my 2nd-5th days "home" lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to continuous fluids IV, and being tested for something I knew I did not have (like I caught a virus on the plane home). Got back home at 9:30 at night after being told I was going to be released at 9am that morning.
Love my wife she's a saint. But I feel totally using and abusing her. She was and is exhausted in this process as much as I am. The phlegm is so bad that I only sleep at night maybe 3-4 hours in chunks.
I have to cough and spit out stuff constantly. So I have driven Kim from our bed. She is now sleeping in Erika's room at night just to get sleep. And I know the anxiety is getting to her because she can't fall asleep easily and gets up very late in the morning looking like a train rolled over her during the night.
It sure would have been nice had someone from CTCA sat down with use and given us a little precursor to what was to happen with me during my recovery. It would have lessened some of the frustration I have. Yesterday I went to some forums on Head and Neck Cancer survivors to read about others recoveries. This phlegm this is not a short term thing. I read one guy had it for 8 weeks, another for 4 months, and still another for 6 months. Not very conducive for a work environment.
I am not in a very good place mentally. Last night I fired off a couple of emails quitting a job that I have been contracted for since the beginning of August. I was feeling about 95% back then so what was to not take it, the job was 2 months away. Last night I bagged them, I was supposed to leave next week.
There is no way I could travel to Europe for a 2.5 week show. There may be repercussions but what can I do, I can't be like this and be working a production. My life is a total production in itself these days with the script writers coming up with new material daily. I need to find a focus point to get me headed toward a better place.
your family. It was a long summer but now I can get back to a little R&R at home and get back to working. I was fortunate to have had enough money stashed away for us to make it but I really need to get back and start finding jobs again.
The big rub in all this revelry about being home is that no one from the cancer center sat down with us to discuss what the recovery period for told. In my mind, I thought 10 days to 2 weeks of laying low and resting while working at getting my swallowing back up to where I can be eating solid foods.
No one told me that my body would be a tortured radiation sponge. I was home no longer than 2 days and I was off to see my local doctor. I couldn't keep food down in either direction. I was totally gagging 24/7 with phlegm build up in my mouth that usually keeps me no farther than 15 ft from a bathroom to rid myself of the nasty stuff. She admitted me to the local hospital. So I spent my 2nd-5th days "home" lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to continuous fluids IV, and being tested for something I knew I did not have (like I caught a virus on the plane home). Got back home at 9:30 at night after being told I was going to be released at 9am that morning.
Love my wife she's a saint. But I feel totally using and abusing her. She was and is exhausted in this process as much as I am. The phlegm is so bad that I only sleep at night maybe 3-4 hours in chunks.
I have to cough and spit out stuff constantly. So I have driven Kim from our bed. She is now sleeping in Erika's room at night just to get sleep. And I know the anxiety is getting to her because she can't fall asleep easily and gets up very late in the morning looking like a train rolled over her during the night.
It sure would have been nice had someone from CTCA sat down with use and given us a little precursor to what was to happen with me during my recovery. It would have lessened some of the frustration I have. Yesterday I went to some forums on Head and Neck Cancer survivors to read about others recoveries. This phlegm this is not a short term thing. I read one guy had it for 8 weeks, another for 4 months, and still another for 6 months. Not very conducive for a work environment.
I am not in a very good place mentally. Last night I fired off a couple of emails quitting a job that I have been contracted for since the beginning of August. I was feeling about 95% back then so what was to not take it, the job was 2 months away. Last night I bagged them, I was supposed to leave next week.
There is no way I could travel to Europe for a 2.5 week show. There may be repercussions but what can I do, I can't be like this and be working a production. My life is a total production in itself these days with the script writers coming up with new material daily. I need to find a focus point to get me headed toward a better place.
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