Feeling Good, but Dreading Surgery

It has been 4 weeks and 3 days since my last radiation treatment.  I've really started to feel better.  I can eat almost anything, but some stuff (beer, pop) still do not taste right.  I split a beer with Caroline last night before the Timber's game that tasted good.  I was very optimistic, so I grabbed another at half time -- it did not taste so good.  Oh well.  There were six of us a dinner at Thai Orchid on Burnside (Zeiglers and Steinfelds).  We ordered a variety of dishes and they all tasted very good to me.

Last week Steve Z and I did our normal 2.5 mile walk at lunch every day.  It is getting easier, but I'm still pretty tired and sweaty when we get done.  I do get much hotter than I used to and way hotter than Steve.  I have not started swimming yet, hopefully next week -- I put the towels and swim gear into my car yesterday.

My brother Sherwood visited last weekend.  It was a great weekend, I was really glad he came.  Sherwood, Powel (my other brother), and I toured the Columbia River Gorge on Friday 8/9 and as part of that we drove up to Larch Mountain and hiked to Sherrard point, about 3/8 mile uphill from the parking lot.  I had to rest twice on the way and felt a little light-headed at the sun-drenched lookout area.  I think if I did the same walk today I would do much better.  Here we are at Sherrard Point (left to right: Powell, Sherwood, Sam).

Every day  surgery draws closer and I get more nervous about life after surgery.  I try not to think about it too much.

July 29 - Aug 2: Improvements, finally

I'm starting to improve.  It is incremental improvement, not dramatic improvement, but I can eat more foods without serious pain.  I rarely experience nausea.

There are still a lot of foods which hurt after I swallow until I swallow some water, room-temperature water. I'm still pretty sensitive to temperature.  Cold foods like ice-cream, ice water, etc., hurt to eat or drink.  One of the most bothersome problems is taste.  Beer just doesn't taste good.  I think the more complicated something tastes, the less likely I am to like it.  Fritos taste great.

Strength is slow coming back.  I walked at lunch with Steve Z every day at work last week (Steve S. joined us a few times).  The walk was about a mile.  It was hard and did not seem to get easier by the end of the week.  When I wake up I still feel really weak when I'm brushing my teeth, almost like I might keel over.

I've started to get more regular.  I think the constipation and abdominal cramp issues are over, thankfully.

Every week surgery looms a little closer (Sept. 11) and becomes more real.  Martha shares with me some of the stuff that's going to happen after surgery, different "stages" of eating from "nothing through the mouth", i.e., feeding tube, for the first 4 weeks, then pure liquids only (Ensure, Boost), then pureed "a little bit of texture", etc.  At each stage I have to gain some weight to get to the next sage.  I'm dreading it.