August 10 - Went back to the hospital dentist today to get my covers fitted. I am good to go. They are like partial retainers that just snap in. The fluoride trays are not needed until after radiation is complete. The dentist explained that wearing them while radiation  treatments are going on could be painful because my mouth is going to be very tender. I asked him what is the point of wearing them afterwards. He said that my mouth will not be producing saliva very well for a couple of months after radiation treatments stop and the job of saliva is to strengthen and protect your teeth. The fluoride trays will help do the job that my saliva glands will be slacking on.

He wanted to know what the docs had suggested for keeping my mouth moist. I told him the only thing I remember them saying is to suck on candy. He said that wasn't very good advice. I protested that there may have been more but my brain was kind of hung up on the fact that I might vomit in the mornings due to the 'ropey' saliva! He said that very few people get sick in the morning from the thickened saliva and I should stop worrying about it. He said sugar free candy to suck on is okay. Sugar free gum would be better. I told him I'm still having chewing trouble so I'm not sure that will be an option right away. He also suggested I get a misting humidifier for next to my bed. Luckily I have one of those so I'll be installing it next to my bed this weekend. He also told me to stay away from diet soda, and acidic fruit juices and that I should basically keep a bottle of water handy at all time and simply sip it throughout the day.

Just as an aside, I have some totally hunky men doctoring me. Unfortunately, they've all been wearing wedding bands. Not that cancer girl should be thinking about dating but still...........

Went to see the movie Ted with Sush on Wednesday night. Absolutely the funniest (and raunchiest!) movie I have ever seen in my life! And even better, I was able to eat popcorn! Granted, I had to eat it one kernel at a time and I had to use my finger to make sure it was pushed over into the left side of my mouth, but  it was still progress! (And salt, finally!)

My other small triumph was talking on the phone. I went to reach for something and I clamped the phone between my ear and my shoulder. Yeah, I know. So what, you ask. Well, I had not been able to do that for a while because my neck was too stiff to bend over that far! It's really amazing the dumb little things in life that get taken for granted up until they're taken away. I'm so happy to be getting some of them back again. :-)

Thank goodness Lis and Kunkel are around to nag me. I totally forgot about my PET scan! The girls came to see me at lunch just an hour or two ago and I promised to call the radiation doc as soon as they left. Which I did and good news. The rest of my body is clean, clean, clean.Woo hoo!

I've been continuing on with getting as many big projects completed as I can before radiation starts. Today my day has been dedicated to thoroughly cleaning my basement. I went out and bought myself a power washer. A really good one this time and not the cheap $99 piece of crap that I bought a few years ago and it only worked for one summer. I am not ashamed to say that I grunted like Tim Taylor when I started this baby up! Power tools rock! So, I have power washed the entire basement floor, scrubbed all the litter boxes, done a bunch of laundry, etc. The last thing I'm working on is scrubbing down the bathroom. I've been using the main floor bathroom since I came home from the hospital but all of my frou-frou stuff is down in the basement bathroom so I want to start using it again. I have one more hour to complete this task before I need to jump in the shower and prep for the big poker game tonight.

The only other big task on my list that I haven't completed yet is my Walmart shopping to stock up for the long haul. I have that planned for Sunday and then I think I'm ready for whatever radiation will bring!