I have finished week one of the radiation treatment! So far things are going well. The only real side effect I've noticed so far is that my mouth is dryer than normal, but it isn't so bad I can't deal with it. An extra sip of water, piece of hard candy, or stick of gum takes care of it.
Today, I was pretty tired, and my stomach was weird, but the doc and I both think that they are left over from the cold I had last week.
So, I have several tips and tricks that I am supposed to be doing to help prevent/minimize radiation side effects.
1) Brushing my teeth after every meal with a soft toothbrush. (3 times a day)
2) Rinsing and gargling with olive oil several times a day. (this is kinda gross, but worth it if it keeps my mouth happy) (3 or more times a day)
3) Rinsing my mouth with salt-water and/or baking soda-water. (Haven't started yet, but supposed to be several times a day)
4) Apply moisturizer to my face (at least 3 times a day, but never within 2 hours before treatment)
5) Fluoride treatments for my teeth. (once a day)
6) Starting this weekend, swallowing exercises to help maintain the muscle tone in my tongue and neck. (3 times a day)
Add to that, the actual treatment once a day, doctors visits once a week, blood work every other week, trying to get enough sleep, and a bit of light exercise, and I think I need a someone just to keep track of what I've done and what I've left to do!
2 comments:
Just assume that if you're awake, there's something you should be doing/eating/drinking/gargling/applying/exercising. If you haven't done one of those in 10 minutes, you forgot something.
Could you mix the olive oil, salt water,
toothpaste, baking sode and floride
treatment all together and do it at
the same time? Think Efficiency!
And tasty too!
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