Friday was Daffodil Day - The annual fundraiser for the Cancer Society - and it ended up being a pretty good day.
The weather was good and my work had organised a fund-raiser (including auction) for the end of the day. All up, we raised close to $1,000 from the proceedings and it was humbling to see everybody dipping into their pockets for a cause that is obviously close to my heart.
I've decided it is time to take another little look at how things are progressing for me and I must say that I think the pendulum is actually swinging more in my favour now.
Firstly, while I struggle to retain body temperature these days, with the help of thermals and a decent jacket, I can cope. The big challenge has been trying to keep my fingers/hands warm, but after a couple of false starts, I've finally found some effective gloves (a perfect case of you get what you pay for - they were by no means cheap, but at times like this, money couldn't be allowed to rule the outcome).
Secondly, the saliva situation seems to have settled back down. While there is definitely no return to pre-treatment levels, I'm pretty sure that there has been some recovery and certain foods are slightly more manageable. Sure, some things are still too much of an effort to even bother with, but by the same token, with a little bit of care and patience, some other things can at least be tackled in small quantities so as to at least give a glimmer of normality. The biggest "nuisance" is now probably the restricted jaw movement. While a normal person can open their mouth to fit in 3 fingers, I can only manage two. That means you have to take smaller portions and coupled with the saliva issues, adds to a slow but steady approach to eating.
I say the jaw is a nuisance, but in reality it is merely one of those side-affects that I have yet to find a workaround for. While other side-effects are relatively easy to compensate for (I know what the limitations are and adjust accordingly), for some reason this little issue still catches me out from time to time. It doesn't impede anything really - I've made allowances for it - it is just annoying. Other things have "improved", but this bugger is just plain stubborn.
Speaking of stubborn, the one thing that doesn't seem to be enjoying any movement from the pendulum is my hearing. I'm still waiting for the experts to get back to me, so in the meantime just have to ask people to repeat themselves and/or move closer to them to hear. Noisy environments just exasperate things, but again it is perseverance to the fore.
Where does that leave things? Well, sleeping is good, energy is steadily improving, weight is holding it's own (maybe a kg or so down), eating has settled, I've adjusted to the saliva status and the winter blast hasn't claimed me as a victim health wise. My diet is still pretty much on the healthy side (the system throws a number of obstacles at me with regards the "goodies" I used to love and in all honesty I don't miss them), the osteo sessions seem to be making good headway and apart from a seasonal financial reporting glitch I'm still managing my time at work well. The report card is therefore looking pretty good.
Long may it continue.
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