Crawling

I definitely crawled over the radiation finish line today.  The lovely radiation technicians made me a certificate, and a hospital volunteer offered to buy me a root beer, but I don't feel celebratory at all.  Maybe it hasn't sunk in yet, and maybe tomorrow I'll be excited about it when I don't have to start my day with some zaps.  But I just feel so crummy.  Believe me, I'll celebrate at some point, in true hbomb style.  It's just that this girl typing on her cancer blog does not feel like the hbomb.

The brief report is that my chest wall is like the worst sunburn ever, and it'll actually peak in awfulness one week from today.  When I touch it, I get nauseous.  My throat hurts, mostly from the radiation but I have a new bonus throat pain from a change in the sinus infection.  This bonus pain shoots up into my ears.  That makes me nauseous, too.  My sinuses are improving but are still a bit plugged up, and the drainage is gross.  Finally, I'm tired.  So tired.  I took a 4-hour nap today.

That's enough of that.

I have two bright sides to share with you.  First, I have discovered the delights that are homemade smoothies.  I just use fruit, a tiny bit of sorbet, and water.  I'm keeping it simple because I'm trying to use them to stay hydrated, since drinking water is so painful.  My favorite so far is 1 c. water, 3/4 c. frozen blueberries, and 1/4 c. mango sorbet.  I can always add yogurt or powdered milk if I need more calories, but right now hydration is my biggest challenge.

Bright side number two is my awesome family.  Apparently I sounded pitiful in my last blog post because my sister, dad, and step-mom all converged on my house last night to help out.  It was fantastic to have all of that in-person support.  Unfortunately, I had no idea what they could do for me.  I just needed to take my meds, wash my sinuses, and sleep.  But I suppose that them being here to lift my spirits was the best help of all.

Time to get back to the resting.