I crossed the finish line

I ran a good race.  I crossed the finish line, and the crown is mine.  Now comes the recovery period.  The protons that I received today, will still be doing their job for another two weeks.  The sore in my mouth will slowly heal.  The pain in my ear will slowly go away.  And, hopefully, my left eye will begin to work properly, tracking with my right eye.

As predicted, I have lost most, if not all of my hearing in my left ear.  That's OK, I can live with that.  I am so thankful that Dr. Schreiber put the tube in my left ear.  I remember him saying, "No matter what, you will need this when you start radiation therapy."   He was right.  The cancer tracked right through my left middle ear, following the smallest part of the facial nerve that controls the smallest bone in our body -  the Stapes.  The Stapes is one of three bones in our middle ear that take the vibrations from the eardrum, and send them to the Vestibule for interpretation.

Dr. Akthar told me that if the cancer didn't destroy my middle ear, the treatments would.  These last five treatments have targeted this area of my ear, and the tumor on my sixth cranial nerve that has my left eye going crossed.  I hope to see improvement in these areas in the coming weeks.

I have been using a product called "Domeboro" on my burned skin.  It is some kind exfoliant that slowly takes away the burnt skin.  I just mix it up in a small pot, soak a clean washcloth in it, and lay it on my face for 10-15 minutes.  It washes away the dead skin and promotes new skin growth.  I am no longer bleeding all over my pillow.  I'm not going to go as far as to say I have baby skin, but it's a start.

Tomorrow is my long ride home.  It's normally 5 1/2 - 6 hours.  I am planning at least one rest stop along the way.  Don't worry, I'm fine.  I will be safe, not take chances, and get home just fine.  Probably passing through Minocqua about 5:30 p.m. or 6:00 p.m.

Just as a warning, the Joseph Carpentry truck will be driven by a one eyed cancer patient with radioactive protons in his head.  You might want to steer clear.