An absolutely miserable night, with only three hours of broken sleep due to pain in throat, picking up some stronger medication later today which I hope will see me through weekend and until Tuesday when I can talk to my consultant. Ulceration getting worse making it sore to eat never mind the swallowing. Outside skin of neck still seems to be in good shape, slight reddening but now just waiting for that to become sore as well. Still managing to get scrambled egg down for breakfasts, and sauce laden meals (10 year old portions) for dinner. Ice cream taste sickly but is a treat. Also starting to get grumpy with those around me as so frustrated with how long this is/ and will last, for that I a truly sorry. I really hope I don't spoil Christmas for everyone by turning into Victor Meldrew! On the positive side, and I need to focus on the positives however small they may be, by 5 PM tonight I will be halfway through my radiotherapy treatment and I then after this weekend have one 5 day set of treatment, followed by two days off and 6 more days of consecutive treatments, a day off, then two more sessions, Christmas Day and Boxing Day off and then the FINALtwo sessions.
FormerMember
Hello Dave ... just to say hang on in there because the end is slowly coming into sight ! Do ask for some strong painkillers if you need them, I was given Oramorph amongst other things and it worked very well - helped me to sleep, too. As they say, there are no prizes for pain ... take care and all best wishes.
Keep fighting Dave, you've done brilliantly so far. Enjoy your weekend rest and get some much needed sleep. Hubby is at the same stage as you, 15 sessions done - 15 to go. x
Thanks for the kind words of support joycee, I spoke about oramorph with my team today, trouble was that pharmacy was shut so have to wait now till Monday.
Hello again Dave ... yes, Oramorph is good stuff ! I was also given Fentanyl patches towards the end of my RT treatments, very strong painkillers. Pity that you can't get the medicine before Monday ... have you tried the Difflam mouth rinse / gargle as a temporary measure until then ? You can buy that in Boots and most chemists without a prescription if necessary ... worth a try as it's an anti-inflammatory / painkiller.
I'm with you in thoughts, Dave. Sorry you are having such a miserable time right now. Others who have been through it themselves can give you better advice than I. On the pharmacy side, you ought to be able to get what you need on a Saturday? I got into a difficulty about 4 weeks ago and contacted the out of hours doctors team at about 8am. A charming GP working for the team spoke to me and prescribed what I needed, in my case Tramodol as oramorph had given me other problems. Our local pharmacy received the prescription from the doctor's office by fax and delivered it to me within an hour or so. Hope you can find a way of getting the oramorph sooner than Monday.
