One week later.

Can I whine?  A week later and I still have to squish timbits to eat them as I can't open my jaw wide enough. I'll be calling the clinic on Tues if this continues.

Still needing the occasional advil for pain, too.
 

Wednesday.

It's Wednesday.  5 days later.
I'm looking at my breakfast thinking.. how am I going to eat this?  Every morning the aching pain in my cheek is more than the previous night.  It diminishes by evening, but after a night's sleep, it's worse than ever.  I wonder: Is my pain tolerance low? Are my expectations too high? 
So I'm writing this post.  That way, next time, I'll remember that 5 days later it ached.  A radiating, tooth ache type ache.  But it's not my teeth. It's up in my cheekbone, closer to my ear. 
Today I will call the clinic and see if this is normal.

Treatment #6 Photo

The little dots are needle marks. I'm thankful for General Anethesia when I see this.

Trip #6!

I am not a blogger, a writer or a journal person.

Today was Bleomycin trip #6.  As I didn't update #5, here's the highlights from  both:

I see minor improvements with each procedure.  The interventional radiologist (whatshisname??) and I have decided to work from the top down, so focusing on the cheek area first.
They now use gel under the monitor pads to avoid the skin discolouration that can occur with bleomycin and adhesive.  This is good, as I still have faint red circles from Nov. 2011's treatment.

Trip #6, I had a different Interventional Radiologist.  I was out longer and seem to have more needle marks.  

The only lasting side-effect is the skin pigmentation that I have on my left shoulder and upper back.  It looks like tanned scar lines.  Not terribly noticeable, but it's there. It should eventually fade.

I'll post photos later. :)

Trip #4 to Toronto Western Hospital for Percutenous Bleomycin injections.

Pre-Surgery: Wednesday Nov. 16th 2011


Post-Surgery Friday Nov. 18th 2011

I'm expecting the swelling and bruising to appear mid-day tomorrow.

Updated photos

I don't think I've ever taken so many photos of myself.  I find that they turn out best when I use the mirror and live-view with my DSLR.   That being said...

Today's update. 9 days post treatment #2

 The big bruised spot has receded, leaving some new dark red/purple splotches.  All around, it feels like it's gone down a bit.  The 2 of the dark dots (of 5 total) feel harder, not as smooth as before.  Perhaps in another week or two the area will change again. I'll post more photos next week.

I'll be booking procedure #3 this week. Should be mid-September.

Julia

2 days post treatment

My throat started hurting yesterday morning, perhaps even Friday night.  It's not a cold-type sore throat, more lower, making some food feel like it's sticking.  Today it has improved to a dull irritation.  This morning I awoke to much bruising and increased swelling.  Hopefully it will recede in a couple days and we'll be able to see an improvement!