July 19th

This is a week in which each and every day is filled with radiation! A "daily dose" I guess would be one way of putting it.

For the rest of this week I will be able to have most of the day to recover from the daily dose as all of the appointments are in the morning.

I am delighted to be able to report that someone actually thought that my voice had become stronger. I must confess that I have noticed that the practice has been partly effective. However the pitch of the voice is at present at least an octave higher than previously. I am actually finding myself being annoyed by the sound of my own voice - I seem to be whining rather than speaking.

I am now making efforts to figure out how to lower the pitch! Bring on the appointment with the speech pathologist I say! I suspect that it has something to do with both breathing and also with learned behaviour that has guided how one uses the breathing and the vocal chords over the years. What was useful in the past is obviously no longer as useful today with the modified equipment. The question really is how to re-train what are entrenched behaviours. It is here that I suspect I will need an enormous amount of guidance and assistance.

The dreaded side effects of the treatment - namely the inability to swallow without pain have, as yet not arisen. In a brief conversation with one of the people giving me the treatment I was told that it might not happen since the radiation is being given a little lower than just in the throat. If this is the case then I had better start to think about no longer bulking up in anticipation of an inability to eat and start thinking about how to lose the poundage that I have put on. I think I will leave this to the end of the week at least and see how the five days in a row of radiation affects me.

Have to go for the time being - but will be back with more later in the day depending on what happens.