Shut Up and Eat Ice Cream!

     Last radiation treatment is done!  My cancer treatment is officially FINISHED!  Seems like we began all this a long time ago, and I'm thrilled to move forward as a FORMER cancer patient. 
     It was a little bittersweet to say goodbye to the radiation techs who have been so kind to me this past month.  What a lovely group of people--they took very good care of me and definitely made me feel like a person and not a patient.  So once again I feel very strange hoping never to see again some people that I've grown to like very much...maybe I'll run into one of them in the grocery store sometime, but I hope never to be seeing them in their professional capacity again.
     My family came with me to the final treatment and, to mark the occasion afterward, met with another friend for some celebratory ice cream.  I went all out--no cone for me, baby, bring on the sundae!  I then went home and slept off the ice cream hangover for several hours.  And now...well, now it's all about shaking off the radiation fatigue, getting back in shape (slowly but slowly), and trying to move forward without perpetual fear and anxiety of recurrence.  I just want to be my regular (weird?) self, not the cancer spaz I've been for the past 8 months.  Thanks to Team Andrea, I'm done. We made it!  Whoo hoo!

Vanilla ice cream, bananas, homemade almond toffee, whipped cream, and salted butter caramel sauce
in a waffle bowl.  Oh yeah!  You know you want some!

     I am in the process of rescheduling the follow-up with my hematology oncologist who will give me the plan for future appointments with her, blood work, and possible scans.  She'll be following me for the next 5 years, but we just need to work out the details of how often and what her preference for scanning is compared to my preference for scanning.  I'm a fan of scanning if the blood markers show hinky levels, or scanning if I am experiencing chronic symptoms that fit the description for lymphoma.  I'm not such a fan of routinely scanning every certain number of months no matter what, and the latest protocol doesn't support that approach either.  But we haven't had the opportunity to discuss it yet.  Anyway, knowing that I'll be seeing her on a regular basis will do a lot to stave off the general recurrence anxiety, I think.  It will just be strange to go from being followed by so many medical professionals so intently for so long to being "on my own" for the most part.  But I'm looking forward to getting used to it again. 
     I did see another ENT about my ear pain, and he checked me out and said that it seems like classic TMJ symptoms...however, I don't seem to have TMJ.  He said my teeth don't show evidence of grinding, but it is possible that I'm clenching my teeth at night.  He said that, having gone through all this cancer treatment (which his wife had gone through with breast cancer), it is not uncommon to manifest symptoms of stress after treatments are finished, because while you are going through treatment you just kind of strap in and hang on for the ride and don't necessarily have time to get all anxious about what's going on.  Now, I can't say that I feel particularly stressed...except about the ear pain...but this sounds like a chicken vs. egg discussion. 
     Anywho, he has recommended a protocol for me to try for a week to see if I experience any kind of improvement.  If I do get some relief, then his supposition is likely correct, and I should tag up with my dentist.  If I don't experience any measure of improvement in the pain, then I am to contact him again and we would do a scan of my neck.  He feels it would be unlikely that the cancer would be back given the time frame from the last clear PET scan and cannot feel anything in my neck from the outside, but he realizes that, if following this process doesn't change my symptoms, that it requires further investigation to determine what is going on.
     So really, I've got to ask:  Other doctor and ENT, was that so hard?  I mean, it's not as if this doctor did anything different in his examination.  But he actually communicated with me, gave me something to try, and then laid out a plan for a process of elimination.  Why did I have to go to three different doctors before one seemed interested in assigning a reason for the pain, giving a specific protocol for alleviating it, and presenting a plan of action if it didn't work?  Those three things don't seem to be so wildly outside the scope of a doctor's job description.  Anyway, enough of my venting for now.
     The routine for the week is this:  Apply heat three times a day, take a buttload (600mg) of an anti-inflammatory three times a day, and rest my jaw (meaning don't talk extensively, stay off the phone, play charades?), and eat a soft food diet for a week to minimize chewing. 
     So really, I think that boils down to him telling me to shut up and eat ice cream, don't you?  That is what he's really saying, isn't it?  Not talking is hard for me, I'll admit.  Anyone who knows me knows that getting me to shut my piehole is not easy, but ice cream?  Really?  Okay, twist my arm, it's doctor's orders, I GUESS I can eat ice cream if you insist!
     Oh, you say there are other soft foods that provide healthier, more well-rounded nutrition?  La la la la I can't hear you.