Hi Judy. 

Im just about 2 weeks post my last fraction and literally until the final day I had zero burns. My Oncologist was gobsmacked. Then a couple of days later.... Holy breakout!!! My whole neck went red raw and a bit weepy at times. Left with a dry crust which seems to renew daily.. it is slowly but surely getting better... keep up your application of Flamigel or what equivalent they have given you, keep the area clean and it will heal.

I've already noticed the right side of my neck which had the lesser dose is already 70%+ healed..  left is getting there but taking more time.

Mucus is evil, but again, should settle once his radiation levels start coming down.

One thing I am learning is everyone's recovery is different, alot of people have common side effects, such as the burns, the mucus.. from there things will differ, and like everything, it differs from person to person.

Atm, my main after effects are excess saliva (as apposed to lack of!) Which is making me cough up every so often especially using my NG Tube. Along with my neck burns!

I am only 32, and very much used to being in control of my health (and the confidence to deal with others!) And have leaned that this process is one of the most brutal treatments going, that and its a Marathon, not a race.

The side effects will get better but will take time. 

Speak with his Oncology team, Carbocestine and Nebulisers can help Mucus. 

Hello Elona :happy:

We are definitly going to look into the different 'flavoured' Geraniums.

Yesterday was brilliant seeing my other two daughters, weather held out too which was a bonus.  I told them that I have/had cancer and they both took it really well.  They totally understood why I had not told them earlier which was amazing of them both.  If the borders stay the same (Indian varient allowing) we will be seeing them again at the beginning of June. :happy:

I was absolutely shattered yesterday, but thought thats's ok it's Sunday tomorrow I can rest.  DINGDONG!  8am this morning!!!  Water company want me to move my car so that they can do works that they were supposed to do last Wednesday.  It turns out that it wasn't to get to the area they were working on, it was so that they could park one of their vans!   Not a happy bunny.

Calm is now returning as I can smell a pork roast with crackling cooking ever closer to being on my plate, hopefully at least some of it will have some taste :laugh:

Have a great day

Al x

Hi, thank you everyone for your replies, we have been applying the Flamigel 3 times a day since day 1 but I think because he is fair skinned it's affected him more, the radiologist says it is how they would expect at this stage and the nursing staff say it's not infected even tho it's raw, weepy and crusty, he can barely move his neck!  They have given him some Flamazene to put on when he's finished treatment on Tuesday and they promise us it's amazing stuff, let's hope so  
The mucus is his other big issue, he is unable to swallow anything apart from tiny sips of tea and even then he coughs and chokes.  He has Carbocisteine and he uses a steamer a few times a day which does help a little.  He has a RIG tube so he's living on Ensure complete and has all his meds this way too.  Amazingly to date he's only lost around 4.5kg.

 This forum has been really helpful for me (albeit absolutely terrifying at times) but I am that person who wants to know everything, I believe that forearmed is forewarned, hubby on the other hand would rather not know what's coming but I do try and prepare him for each stage. Only 2 days to go and we can begin the long road back to recovery
Thanks again

Morning

Well the rain has temporarily stopped and it is a little blowy but not too bad. HUbby is entertaining the Pedro with his kong jubbler and i am stitting in bed as usual with my cup of tea lol (what a lazy person I hear you say! never out of bed lol). 

Sam nice to hear from you (even tho to Judy) and hope the saliva calms down soon and burns too.

Alli hope your ok and coping keep positive x

Judy taek care hope the last couple of days go ok and healing begins x

Al glad your daughters were amazing but then they are part of you so did not expect anything less. Hope you managed to enjoy the pork and crackling - dont like pork but love crackling lol. that will be good for your weight. We have not had a good roast for ages not sure why actually because we both love them. Best bit for me is the crispy roast potatoes yummy!!! 

Al Have been looking at the geraniums and apparently you can also get chocolate and mint scented too. I have a liquorice plant in the garden that is quite amazing it really smells of liquorice. Makes the garden quite interesting. Did all those plants arrive for your wife?? forgot to ask. How is she ? apologies i forget to ask that is rude of me. what colour did she paint the bedroom. 

i tilked the fireplace yesterday - or at least put up the new tiles i had got of ebay for the fireplace. These are victorian flower tiles that came out of an original fireplace but are on the sides of mine. iam really pleased they are very pretty even hubby liked them. we just have to decide what to do to finish of the fireplace - it needs some sort of surround might have to go to reclamation yard sometime that will be fun. 

the mini mafia had a party across the road last night boy were they noisy it was to celebrate the long awaited wedding. It looked like a greek wedding with lots of throwing plates and broken china with drunken family members strewn across piles of food lying flat out exxhausted and drunk! The newly weds left quite early on running up the road (customly to take their lifes in their hands as they have to go and find a new home). There was a lot of cheering as they narrowly missed a passing car. Since grandm and grandpa are too old to stay up late this meant the youngsters could misbehave. they had forgotten to inform the alligators who had come back from America for the occasion that it was across the road so they turned up in the carport and had to be redirected. A cake throwing in your face started at 2am i dont think anyone was left with a clean face! hoping for a quieter night tonight. 

Well lockdown has definately lessened listening to the news hope that the Indian variant does not cause any real problems we cannot deal with any more. I dont understand though when t was obvious Ramadam was not being socially distanced and India were under huge strain from the pandemic that we allowed people to go and come back so they brought the strain back in. Lets hope we get it under control and it does not affect most of us. 

Bengals are play fighting over me now so will have to finish and move before a claw comes my way!!! 

keep smiling x

wow a wet afternoon after a gorgeous morning ! torendous rain but then planted a daphne and the soil was bone dry under a cm deep. Have kepot my little lights on all day outside as the dull sky needed brightening up! boy dont we all need cheering up sometimes but there is always something we can see that will make us smile- we just need to see it. 

Alli i hope that you are coping ok and your partner gives you all the support he has been. i hope the bird table gives you delight in those dark days and you can begin to see the light shinning at the end of the tunnel. 

Sam I hope your ok.

Al hope your not too tired and looking forward to your Euro vision!! (you never know i may even see a bit lol). I bet you are looking forward to seeing your ffriends anyway. At least they are allowed indoors now not the weather for an outdoor cinema occasion!! i can just see you snuggling under a duvet on your sun bed outside with a huge umbrella and tarpaulin keeping eveyone dry lol cccccchhhhhhhaaaattttering in the rain!!! 

I have a very inqusitive blackbird visiting me now. It is a male and very handosme. so i put up a fat square on the grape vine so hopefully he will find that. He is particuarly interested when i do any digging because he wants the earthworms i may find. I love it when they follow you aroudn - brave like the robin. I am hoping that now my mothers cats are not here the other birds may begin to ome back,. there were certainly a few *** and sparrows early am in my orchard area. I also think one of my released hedgehogs may have come back because there was a suspect poo on the ground lol. so exciting if that is the case. i need to fill the bird table again. 

I have had one of those days where i feel that i have done nothing really. i am going in next door to feed their cat whilst they are away for a few days, strted my tax return then decided that was enough for one day! but did make some black forest brownie bites. i made double the amount because i was going to freeze some to take to work then realised i cannot diue to my condition if infectious! so hubby will have to eat a lot of them!! very goey! 

have good day all and keep smiling x

Afternoon, 

hope everyone is doing ok. 

just had some thunder that took me by surprise!! been a strange weather day today, one minute lovlee and did get outside for a short while the next wet then as said thunder this afeternoon. Next door had a large thick bucket they were chucking out so i grabbed it and am making a pond feature in my front garden with it. I dug up more of my drive way slabs and put them round the bucket to look like a well and have ordered a floating basket with a couple of flowering pond plants. we also have a dragon water feature coming from America (a facebook offer) so i have a pedastool for it to sit on and a different light mode to light it up. Probably wont come for months but fingers crossed is as good as it says. 

My green parrot plnats have arrived and fragrant peopnies so i will need to plant them tomorrow. 

Had another bargain today went to the reclamation yard and found a fire surround for only £20 free delivery so i now have to fix it in place and it should look good. Might paint it cannot decide yet as it is painted a reddy brown. 

The pair of pigeons are back on the bird table jostling about the seed! they are incredibly handsome and large! you can tell they have put on weight as the fence wobbles as they land! 

have a good evening and take care 

keep smiling x

Afternoon, 

well another gloomy day with high winds predicted and beginning. Also a day when a lot of my plants have arrived, summer bedding plants as tiny as the last lot but a bigger variety so will need planting out tomorrow, some frittaria aurora, peonies, parrot plants and the yakons have arrived! the yakons have large leaves that are quite furry so will be very interesting. fingers crossed they survive. i have planted the yakons and peoonies - hopefully correctly, we will see. exciting times and things to look forward to. 

Managed to get the fireplace surround into place looking good but still cannot descide whether to paint it or not. Its one of those that can be easily left a lone or pained. have not done anything else except a little of the next hedgehog adoption issue. felt quite lazy but think things are catching up on me again as i feel really tired today. 

Hoping everyione is not feeling too bad, or are coping ok. 

Next door was talking to me about the mini mafia hotel that resides underneath her lawn. She thinks it has amazing rooms and plentiful food if you can aford it. There is certainly one mini mafia that is blazen about living there because she said it just ignores her now when it comes out for a wander about! we think the hotel must be a 4 star one and fairly exclusive since we are not over run with down and outs. The rooms are made of the best nesting material imaginable, so much so you can lie your head down and fall aslepp as soon as your head touches the nest. The rooms may be compact and beju but enough for a couple and possibly small baby. Down the passage way that runs for about a mile is a central hall way where everyone communtes for their meals. Food is brought in by the scouts and foragers from near and far. Mini mafia probably come for holidays or business trips, although a few reside here. The mini mafia seem to be digging more runs since a new one has appeared the other side of my house near the other side next door neighbour thankfully by passing my front suspect they are now aware that nothing is to be gained here - or at least i hope.

the wind is definately picking up now they say it could be 50-60 mph so if it is strong near you all take care. may have to batton down the hatches but i dont mind watching from the bedroom window. )begrudge having to put on the heating though it is supposed to be sumer!!). 

have a good evening keep positive and keep smiling x

Well friday and it seems like saturday have one of those days with days muddled up!!! 

The wind finally blew with gusto in this morning so last night was the beginnings today has been full on. Thankfully nothing so far damaged or blown away. 

Very tired today so nothing doing, in fact nearly fell asleep this afternoon. Now to pick myself up a bit watching  MIB international. Neighbours came round with some solar lights for our garden really pleased should be good. 

hubby saw mini mafia over the road last night seems this maybe their new residence. He said he was practising sky diving on wheels hmmm not sure how but seems like the old sinclair with kite wings. the idea is to go up and down the road and in and out of the car wheels. much like most of us when we were youngsters running over railway lines etc 

fire place surround is now in place just needs a lick of paint around the sides and still contemplating whether to paint or not. 

hope everyone is ok pretty quiet here so hopeing no problems and these little snippets are being read. 

keep smiling imagine the fat pigeons, eating all the seeds, the prettiest smelliest plants growing, the idiots that make you laugh, the dog that kicks me out of bed! 

stay strong as AL says x

Morning - another gloomy mornng it is here. has been raining a lot last night but i had still hoped to get outside looks like that is not happening. 

Al is it your eurovision day today hope your feeling ok and up to it. 

Alli we have not heard from you since your wobble at the beginning of your treatment so i hope it is simply because your tired but it is going ok. 

Sam hope your ok. Judy hope your hubbie is doing ok.

having a lie in this morning being snug as a bug in a rug! pedro, rumpole and rodney next to me are also partaking in this too. seems it is not worth moving this morning. my wisteria has come out in bloom blue, white and pink (the closest i could get to red) being very patriotic!!! haha 

look to the skies and find the hidden images in the clouds and smile 

have a good day x