Treatment #6&7 of 30.
Had a distracting tour of the hospital yesterday, as the machine where I have so far had treatment was down for maintenance. 10-15 minutes walk to the other side of the hospital where there is another radiotherapy suite. On this walk I met an ex work colleague of mine who was visiting her husband who has just finished treatment for a tumour in his sinus. He was an inmate due to being under-nourished and dehydrated. My ex-colleague, strongly advocated the fitting of a feeding tube if push comes to shove. Since I am normally used to seeing this lady at the pub, this particular conversation had a slightly surreal element to it. Anyway, we parted with the proviso that we would meet in the pub soon.....
Wife suggests to me that we have a takeaway for our tea, so I plump for fish, chips, and peas, with a slice of buttered bread to make a chip butty, but she also suggests we have a pint while we wait for said fish to be cooked, and this is why I love this woman 
.
I have to say that I suspect my sense of taste is changing, as the much anticipated chip butty seemed quite dull and underwhelming. This makes me sad.
Had my first clinic appointment today before RT. The oncologist was very matter-of-fact, he told me that the side effects WILL get worse, and arranged for me to have some special mouthwash prescribed to me ready for tomorrow. I also scored an oral anaesthetic bottle of gloop, one up from the Tyrosets I got from the chemist yesterday. The Tyrosets managed to calm my tongue down for an hour or so, but I'm only supposed to have them every 3 hours. Oncologist also suggested I start to slather the skin on my face and neck with E45 cream in anticipation of sore skin. Dennis Potter's Singing Detective scenes come to mind, and wife smirks opposite me.
For lunch today I am indulging in a Greggs chicken bake. This galls me immensely, as Greggs are responsible for wiping out all decent pie shops in the UK over the last twenty years or so, and my one man boycott of their mass-produced baked goods was eventually going to bear fruit. I will make the trip up to Lancashire when this treatment is over, just to eat a decent pie. Butter pie is the one calling to me just now, and actually making my (dry) mouth water. People from south of Lancashire, just google it.
Tea tonight will involve stewed steak and mashed potato, just because it is what I fancy. Wife looks at me sideways and continues making salad in some form of cardboard wrap she insists is bread.
Food bullying is a thing of the past, so at least I have that to thank the RT for.
More tomorrow.......
