A Rude Intrusion :: Day 53

This is my blog for day 53 of cancer treatment and recovery, Thursday, 31 Aug 2017.

Only recovery today - no doctor's appointments.

Slept okay last night, but woke at 4:15 AM, for some reason. I guess I was rested. 

Have a bad taste in my mouth, even after brushing my teeth. I suspect it's from the tissue healing in my throat. It feels like the "bad" is down there. But I'm not sure. At least I'm no longer gaggin' when brushing my teeth (which is the worst feeling in the world)!

My neck is still pretty bad - radiation burns from "the boost", the last two weeks of treatment, when the radiation hits the tumor sites pretty hard. I've probably got second-degree burns; certainly it's worse than any sunburn I've ever had - and I've had a couple really bad ones - but it's local to my neck. 

Since I'm talking about the side-effects of treatment, I'll add that I've gotten pretty used to having a feeding tube. In case you don't know what that is, and remembering that I'm not a doctor, it's a tube that runs from inside my stomach, where it's held in place by a balloon, out through the wall of my stomach. In my case, there's about 16 inches of tube sticking out. I use the tube to feed myself, take medicine and even take in water, as the need arises. 

When I first got the tube, it "creeped me out".  I was really, really careful when I had to change the sponge which is placed right where the tube exits my stomach. Now I'm so used to having it that I wash right around it in the shower, which I never did when it was first new. Washing around the tube in the early days was done with soap on a Q-Tip. A Q-Tip was used to rinse around the wound. The a skin cream and the sponge were applied. Five-minute job. Now the wound is barely weeping (it is, after all, an opening into my gut) and my maintenance of the site takes less than a minute. 

Watched the Cubs win, twice - the replay of Wednesday's game and Thursday's game, live. Did not watch the Bears after the first series, as it appeared that they were simply evaluating talent. They lost, I think, badly. But if you're evaluating talent, who cares about the score?

Don't want to wish my life away, but I'm ready for the healing to kick into gear and start eating again!

Today's YouTube video comes from Eric Clapton's 2010 Crossroads Guitar Festival. It's One More Last Chance by Vince Gill - Link. What I love about this is the sheer joy of the song, and the way the sidemen are featured, as well as the stars. Enjoy!

For convenience sake, here a running list of all of the links I've posted to YouTube in the past many days:

According to Plan, Carolyn Arends - Link

And I Love Her - Link
Apollo 11 launch - Link
Back In You Own Back Yard, Al Jolson - Link

Because We've Ended As Lovers, Larry Carlton & Steve Lukather - Link
Blessings, Laura Story - Link
Brandy, Looking Glass - Link
By The Time I Get To Phoenix, Glen Campbell - Link
Chicago Bears fight song - Link
Chicago Blackhawks song - Link
Comfortably Numb, Pink Floyd - Link
Cross Road Blues, Robert Johnson Link
Crossroads, Eric Clapton and Cream Link
Cry Me A River, Joe Cocker - Link
Cry Me A River, Diana Krall - Link
Dancing in the Moonlight, King Harvest - Link
A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request - Link, Steve Goodman
Eat It, Weird Al Yankovic - Link
Eclipse, Pink Floyd - Link
Galveston, Glen Campbell - Link
Gentle On My Mind, Glen Campbell - Link
Glen Campbell-hosted country music special - Link
Go, Cubs, Go, Steve Goodman - Link
Going For The One, Yes - Link
Groucho Movie Clips - Link
I'm Alright, Kenny Loggins - Link
I Love A Rainy Night, Eddie Rabbit - Link
I Love Being Here With You, Diana Krall - Link
In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening, Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman - Link
In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening, Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman, from the movie Here Comes the Groom  - Link
In Good Hands, Carolyn Arends - Link.
Invercargill, United States Air Force Concert Band - Link
Karn Evil 9, 1st Impression, Part 1, An International Collaboration - Link
Lay Down Sally, Vince Gill and a cast of All Stars - Link
Limbo Jazz, Coleman Hawkins and Duke Ellington - Link
Living in the Past, Jethro Tull - Link
Lookin' At The World Through A Windshield, Bill Kirchen - Link
Montana/We Are Not Alone, Univ. of Montana Percussion Ensemble - Link
My Baby Loves Lovin', White Plains - Link

My Funny Valentine, Kristin Chenoweth - Link

My Funny Valentine, Miles Davis - Link
My New Philosophy, Kristin Chenoweth and Stanley Wayne Mathis - Link
On The Street Where You Live, Dean Martin - Link
One Is The Loneliest Number, Three Dog Night - Link
One More Last Chance, Vince Gill - Link
Powdermilk Biscuit Break, Garrison Keillor, et al - Link
Questions 67 and 68, Chicago - Link
Rain, Uriah Heep - Link
Route 66, Asleep at The Wheel - Link
She Used To Be Mine, Sara Bareilles - Link
Shim, Sham, Shimmy (dance) to Tain't What You Do, Jimmy Lunceford - Link
Sisters, Bette Midler and Linda Ronstadt - Link
Sisters, from White Christmas - Link
Sixteen Tons, Tennessee Ernie Ford - Link
Slow Poke, Pee Wee King - Link
St Louis Blues, Stephanie Trick & Paolo Alderighi - Link
Standing at the Crossroads, Elmore James - Link
Stars and Stripes Forever, United States Marine Band - Link
Subdivisions, Rush - Link
Sweet Georgia Brown, Wynton Marsalis/Mark O'Connor - Link
Take Me Out To The Ballgame, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra - Link
That's Jazz, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong & The All Stars - Link
Time, Pink Floyd - Link
Time to Blow, From That Thing You Do - Link
Truck Drivin' Man, Buck Owens - Link
Truck Drivin' Man, the Don Kelley Band - Link
Truck Drivin' Man, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen - Link
US National Anthem, US Marine Band - Link
Village of the Sun and Echidna's Arf (Of You), Frank Zappa - Link
War, Edwin Starr - Link
Your Love Is My Saving Grace, Kristin Chenoweth - Link
Zappa Medly, George Duke - Link