Speaking of drugs, I am supposed to take something called Hydrocodone APAP, an elixir which features the narcotic Hydrocodone and the pain-killer acetaminophen. ButI haven’t. I’ve been imbibing, instead, what was left at the bottom of the bottle, and no one knows just what that is. It was somewhat nasty until I figured out what was going down, after my wife admonished me to be sure to shake the bottle as I don’t know what would be on the bottom if it weren’t mixed. There was nothing, really, to shake and mix at that point, but I’ve got a new bottle and things are okay on that end.

Last night was a rough night, for my sore throat anyway, and it was a little warm in the bedroom. I didn’t sleep, per se, well, and neither did Diane; but we were duly awake, but not as we know it, at the proper time. I had oatmeal for breakfast with no problem, and we made our way down to the treatment center.

The treatment in Accelerator Room 1 was quick enough, but then they took me to the other accelerator room (2?), where they readied it and me for next week’s treatments. These are the ones where they blast the lymph nodes in the back of my neck, something they couldn’t do with the first machine. They had to prepare blocks to protect my spinal cord. Yeah, it sounds insane, but nothing is really right about any of this. Things happen.

In a daze, I met my wife in the waiting room and we went over to the chemo section so they could take blood, which happened quickly and easily enough.

I’ve been gulping water, hydrated myself, pretty well of late, and this is a good thing. I’m eating fine so long as I have the right stuff to eat. For instanced, my wife made fettuccini alfredo for dinner last night, and with the afredo sauce, it went down fine and filled my stomach. I’m doing my fifth week of treatment, out of eight, and I’m still with it.

My neck and shoulders feel as if sunburned, I noted when I was drying off after my shower this AM. I’ve started using that Radia Gel cream nurse Theresa gave me on Monday, and it helps. All said, I’m doing a lot better than I feared I would be. We see Dr. Howell’s tomorrow, hopefully to learn something about the tumor. I’m in good spirits about this thing.