Five long weeks of radiation treatments ended TODAY!!! Yes! I said it! Brady is DONE this course of radiotherapy, and he is STOKED! Mostly stoked to not have to drive in every day, lol! But stoked nonetheless. We tried to take a selfie but it was too bright 🤣
The people working there are always SO kind and soft. Its really lovely in so many ways. Yet, as he went through the motions, each person wished him well and said something along the lines of “I hope to see you again, but not here.” And isn’t that the truth?! Its nice how good people can make a bad situation less scary.
The big question recently has been “How is Brady doing?” And really, he’s doing quite well! He’s tired, but that could also be adjusting to the new lack of mobility, fighting off an infection for so long, etc. There are many factors outside of cancer treatment. But that could be part of it. The only visible piece of the puzzle is the burn mark left on his back and neck…
… but thats pretty small potatoes, if you ask me. It will fade in time, and it doesn’t hurt him.
Probably the biggest lasting issue has been his mouth pain. I honestly don’t remember if I’ve talked about this, so please forgive me if this is old news. As you can see in the above picture, the radiation goes all the way up his neck. Refresher time! You know where the cervical spine is? Its the highest portion of the spine, where it connects to the skull. Thats high stakes up there. Its scary to be treating so high up with radiation. But 🤷🏼♀️ it has to get done!
So waaaaay up there, at C2, is where the treatment starts. Tumours are hanging around in the thoracic spine. Now, this diagram isn’t awesome because it can seem really really scary if you’re reading it. Its not so far off base, but keep in mind that Nerves are nuts! If two people had the exact same injury at the exact same spot in their spine, they would have different results!!! So. Don’t panic over all the little details.
The reason I’m showing you this, and totally over-explaining it, is to show you that the cervical spine goes up so high that the radiation is affecting Bradys throat and mouth.
He has a sore throat.
He has mouth sores.
He has no sense of taste.
He has tongue pain.
Its like an endless mess of a cold, and these pains and discomforts came on the tail end of a really nasty bout of strep. So, he has started rinsing with that product you’ve all heard of that is not uncommonly used in cancer patients – magic mouthwash!! It relieves so many things, and while it doesn’t make any of it go away (except some of the sores!) it helps make it more manageable. However, that pain is supposed to kick around for another two to three weeks. But knowing there is an end in sight helps a little, I think.
While the mouth stuff has been a gigantic pain (both literally and figuratively) he is weening off the steroid they put him on in the beginning of radiation, and he has ten days free from the cancer centre!! After that, he’ll meet with the medical oncologist and get a schedule for chemotherapy. We know what to expect, we just don’t know when it starts. But we can talk more about that another day.
Tonights plan is to eat after the kids go to bed. Poutine, I believe. Hopefully he can taste it at least a little, and if not, the texture of the fries will help, lol!
I’m SO grateful that cancer treatment exists and that the sickness can be helped in many cases. But I also am SO glad this portion of it is over.
We trust God above ALL else.