As expected, the biggest side-effect to radiation has been the sore throat and sore esophagus. How does one know if their esophagus is sore, trust me, you know. Swallowing is difficult and painful, but it could be worse. From what I understand it can become so painful for some people that they aren’t able to swallow at all, at that point some people (in particular the elderly) have to be hospitalized as they quickly become dehydrated and have to be fed through a tube. It’s not going to come to that for me though. However I can definitely see how trying this could become if I was due for a longer course of treatment.

The pain and swelling is essentially due to a “sunburn” on my upper esophagus. It gets irritated from being irradiated (see what I did there =) and swells so that the opening is less than half of what it would normally be. The subsequent pain and smaller hole makes eating difficult, and I have had to adjust my diet. NO sharp pointy foods. Only soft foods and the colder the better. Ice cream is pretty much the perfect food in this case, it’s the only thing I’ve found that doesn’t cause any pain at all. It’s a combination of being soft, cold, and a thick consistency that keeps the throat from having to constrict too much. Even water hurts so it’s become a chore to keep up on it so I don’t get dehydrated, but ice cream goes down smooth! Smooth and delicious.

I’m “sun burned” on the outside too. My chest is a little red, but my neck is very red. I’m supposed to use aloe to sooth it, but it hasn’t hurt at all, so I haven’t been keeping up on it. In fact, I’ve used it once so far, and that was in the doctor’s office when the nurse showed me that I should be using it. Apparently after 7 months I’ve stopped doing EVERYTHING that doctor’s and nurses have told me to do. It’s my own little rebellion I guess. But seriously if it started to hurt, I would probably remember to use the aloe more often than the NEVER that I’m using it now.

Apparently there should also be some fatigue associated with these treatments, but like I’ve said before, after chemo the word “fatigue” develops a whole new meaning and understanding, so if there is any fatigue happening with radiation I haven’t really noticed it.

5 more treatments left. Then I should be officially done with cancer treatment… hopefully forever.