Hi everybody,

A quick post to let everyone know that I'm still here.  Being a bit of
a cheapskate, I had my home Internet connection disconnected on January
6th because I would have been billed for another month on January 8th.
I haven't been around because I didn't get the Internet hooked up to my
parents' home until this afternoon.  My parents don't have cable so I
had to wait for one of the installers with a cherry picker to drop a
cable from the telephone pole down to the house.  I also cancelled on
them once (they wanted to come on the same day I had my wisdom teeth
done) so that accounts for my absence since the New Year.  Time flies
quickly.  I hope it goes by as quick when I'm under treatment.

Anyway, here's where I'm at:  I had my wisdom teeth removed on January
13th.  Two were bone impactions so it was a bit brutal.  Thank God for
the laughing gas.  My face was puffed up like Gwyneth Paltrow's in
"Shallow Hal" for about a week.  I had a follow-up with the dentist
last week but he didn't clear me because I was still fairly swollen.  I
had another one yesterday and he gave me the all clear even though my
jaw feels tired all the time (like I've been chewing a piece of hard
bubble gum for a couple of hours).  I'm having my mask made and fitted
tomorrow.  Next Tuesday, I'm going in for planning and treatments are
scheduled to begin on February 13th.  The radiation nurse explained to
me that IMRT takes longer to plan than conventional RT so that's why
I'm starting on the 13th instead of the 6th.  I'm going to have 30
sessions of RT over 6 weeks (along with cisplatin on days 1, 23 and
46).  I'll then have follow-up chemo (cisplatin and 5FU) once a month
in April, May and June.

I'm still feeling a little anxious about my treatments and what adverse
reactions they may bring but nothing like the anxiety I felt before
Christmas.  I'm also a little concerned that I'll have waited two
months after my diagnosis before my treatments begin but I had to get
my wisdom teeth done.  My dentist told me that because two were
impacted quite deeply in the bone, it might have been very dangerous to
do them post-radiation.  Otherwise, I'm feeling fine.  Most everything
is back to normal.  My appetite, my ability to fall asleep at nights
and my libido. ;-)

Sometimes, I worry that the delay increases my risk for distant
metastases but I try to put that out of my mind.  My
head/neck/abdomen/pelvis CT scan and my full body bone scan came back
clear so, fingers crossed, I should be OK for two weeks.  Though, I
can't help feeling a little worried whenever I feel the slightest
twinge.

My precense on the forum may be a bit erratic for the next two weeks.
I haven't fully moved back in with my parents yet so I'm still sleeping
at my apartment.  I thought I was going to be well into treatment by
now so that's why I had the connection pulled at home.  If I had known,
I would have kept it for another month.

Anyway, just wanted to let you guys know what's up and thank you for
the concern you guys showed while I was connection-less.