TWENTY TO THIRTY POUNDS

I was told that during the radiation and chemotherapy I would be receiving I could lose twenty to thirty pounds. This would be due to the sore throat I would have and would need to build myself up by gaining weight. My normal weight when working out is around 182 and I am now 172. A 30 pound loss would put me at 142 pounds this thought made my mind skipped back to my childhood.

It was 1950 and my mother owned the Friendly Luncheonette on West Front Street in Red Bank. She was a single parent and worked from 6 AM to 7 PM everyday and was asleep by 10 PM most nights. The luncheonette had an ice cream and soda fountain behind the counter and I being a seven year old night owl had a great time eating banana splits and ice creams sodas every night. There was no one around to tell me it was fattening so by the forth grade I puffed up to 140 pounds. I have spent the rest of my life trying to keep the fat cells around my waist at bay. I believe they are called “love handles” and for the life me I cant understand why they are called that. I think its the last thing you'd want to grab on anyone.

So now I have the opportunity to eat as much as I want and gain weight over the next three weeks when I will begin the above treatments. As soon as the sore throat from the surgery goes away I will start eating a lot more. I will be treated for seven weeks being radiated five days a week along with the chemotherapy. This will not be a day at the beach by any means. I will have a very sore throat, no appetite, my taste buds will leave for a while and I will be very tired. The field of radiation could also affect my teeth and I would need dental work. They have a litany of drugs to off set the complications that arise during these treatments. I asked my doctor today if I was at least two-thirds of the way through this cancer ordeal and his answer was “No, about half way, you have climbed one mountain and have one more to go.”

I have been keeping a stiff upper lip during the last six weeks but have to admit I was caught off guard with some good news over the phone from my doctor. He told me Dr. Kaufman the radiation oncologist at Riverview was excited that the site of the cancer had been found. This would enable him to limit the field of radiation to a specific area and would be less invasive then a larger area being radiated. It also meant the pain would be less and I would not lose 20 to 30 pounds but closer to 5 to 10. I was catching another break and at this good news I finally broke down…..I guess this is the emotional roller coaster I was talking about.