Already Bald.

Snowboarding, photo taking, preschooler wrangling, man burning, road warrior with a lump in his throat. Live tweeting my new adventure with cancer.

[Already Bald. @Alreadybald1971]

@subes01 I was just thinking about the same thing yesterday. What a year for film.

[Already Bald. @Alreadybald1971]

Trismus therapy. Gone from 2.2 cm to 2.9.

[Already Bald. @Alreadybald1971]

My latest adventure with tonsil cancer. Treating the trismus. https://t.co/Skodg4tUXt

[Already Bald. @Alreadybald1971]

Check up with Dr Buzzkill today. 14 months post radiation. Still dealing with mucositis and can’t eat spicy food, but he did (help) make me cancer free. They reminded me that Head and neck cancer has the worst treatment. Pro tip: get vaccinated and don’t get it.

[Already Bald. @Alreadybald1971]

Mucositis was the worst part, by far. No day was more than I could handle. And the feeding tube was the best decision I made.

[Already Bald. @Alreadybald1971]

For anyone still paying attention, 14 months post treatment. Cancer free. Spicy food hurts like a bitch. Still choke up mucus all day. Can’t swallow dry chicken breast. But very much alive and mostly normal.

[Already Bald. @Alreadybald1971]

The mucus is now in the back of my sinuses which means I can only breathe through my mouth, making the dry mouth symptoms worse and spiking my opioid intake. Again. Tonsil cancer is one pain in the neck after another.

[Already Bald. @Alreadybald1971]

Imagine spending all day knowing that at any moment you will randomly get punched in the face. And you don’t know when or where. Just it will happen and happen often. This is my life right now.

[Already Bald. @Alreadybald1971]

And it’s not like a normal tongue bite. The nerves in your head are all connected. So when it happens the pain radiates all the way deep into my ears. My whole left side of my body can seize up.

[Already Bald. @Alreadybald1971]

Seriously considering hyperdosong myself with THC liquid to at least make myself so high I won’t care or worry so much about the tongue biting.

[Already Bald. @Alreadybald1971]

My life has turned into this six month experience of pervasive discomfort, choking mucus and blinding pain, and meanwhile, somewhere, someone is trying to convince parents not to vaccinate their kids with the anti HPV drug that would have prevented this misery.

[Already Bald. @Alreadybald1971]

There are no drugs that mute the pain as it is accuse and immediate. I’m back on fentanyl and am increasingly angry and depressed as there seems to be nothing I can do to prevent this.

[Already Bald. @Alreadybald1971]

In a new and terrible development, for reasons I can’t explain I now involuntarily bite my tongue dozens of times a day. The result is what feels like an electric shock that envelops my whole head.

[Already Bald. @Alreadybald1971]

Went a week off the fentanyl patch. Put one back on yesterday. My throat has been a wreck as the mucus continues to dry up. Honestly this recovery is tedious and annoying and I just want to get on with my life.

[Already Bald. @Alreadybald1971]

If you have been diagnosed with head and neck cancer GET A FEEDING TUBE. It will be a life/comfort saver. I’ve kept my caloric intake high through four months of shit and have not lost excessive weight. I’m healing faster. To quote my oncologist, Food is medicine.

[Already Bald. @Alreadybald1971]

Started eating last week. Silken tofu desert. First solid food since March.

[Already Bald. @Alreadybald1971]

Fentanyl patch free for two days. Hoping I turned the pain corner in recovery.

[UT MD Anderson @UTMDAnderson]

“If there’s a way to prevent cancer, why wouldn’t you?” says Sylvia Zaro, a #cervicalcancer survivor.

Here’s why Sylvia advocates for the #HPV vaccine. #endcancer https://t.co/IZ45NKNDrJ

[Already Bald. @Alreadybald1971]

@DrNeilGross @MDAndersonNews I didn’t even get a shirt at Hoag. I did get negative margins and no evidence of extracapsular extension so I don’t mind. Still recovering from the chemo and radiation but looking forward to a clean pet scan in August.

[OHANCAW @OHANCAW]

Sucking on tart, sugar-free hard candy can help alleviate dry mouth symptoms by temporarily increasing saliva production. #NationalCandyMonth