3 not-so-good days

Joni here. Ed always tries to sound upbeat in his blogging, and I think he is making an effort to keep his spirits up. However, Mon., Tues., and today have been very hard days for him. I thought he was a little perkier, more alert, more strong-voiced on Monday even tho he still "deep rested" in the recliner all day. He had a lot of trouble eating because of mouth soreness inside his mouth, but he did try. His diet lately has been all soft stuff and drinkables. His hip soreness (and weakness, I think) increased to the point where, instead of using the cane to assist his right side when he walks, he now places it in front of him and leans with both hands or grabs furniture and such to help keep his balance. Then on Tuesday, the mouth became even more of a problem. He barely ate anything all day. We had a consult with the oral surgeon who will extract the abscessed tooth, but before he schedules that the oral surgeon needs to talk with the whole gamut of Ed's doctors to be sure he can handle the sedation and the procedure. Getting ready to go to that appointment really took a lot out of Ed. Today he has not gotten out of bed at all except to go to the bathroom. He has eaten virtually nothing today. I called the doc, with these results: He is now on Magic Mouthwash which numbs the mouth and throat and helps the ulcers and soreness heal. From what I have read online, the radiation treatments that he had cause this problem, and it could take 7 to 14 days for the cells inside the mouth to rejuvenate. A social worker will be arranging for him to have a walker. Unless he gets some strength back in a hurry, we may have to add wheelchair to that request, too, so that I can get him to places he needs to be more easily. We're expecting a call to schedule a visit to the oncologist earlier than his May 22 appointment. Unfortunately, the doc is on vacation this week, so it will probably be next week til we see him.

Sorry this is all not-so-good news. I'm having difficulty sounding upbeat the way Ed does when he writes. These after-effects of the radiation--and maybe the start of effects of the Nexavar--are much more intense than we understood they would be. I'll feel better if he can just eat again--and so will he, no doubt, even if his taste buds aren't working!