Update 11 July

Went for the next round of treatment.

I simply LOVE lying under that big machine with my head and shoulders strapped down inside a mesh mask knowing that I am receiving bursts of gamma radiation.

I am of course kidding!

Unless you are a masochist this is NOT fun! However, I hope that it is effective or at least will be.

I have noticed that there is the beginnings of what was forecast, namely the commencement of pain associated with swallowing. I will keep an eye on this and try and minimise the impact by modifiying the food intake to include high levels of "squishy" food so that there is as little irritation to the feeding tube and associated areas as possible.

Found at least some temporary relief to the bleeding nose problem - dissolve a little ( and I DO mean a little) Vick's Vapour Rub in a bowl of boiling water, lean over the bowl, taking care to create a tent like structure with a towel of the head and the bowl and then gently inhale the steam, at times through the nose and at other times through the mouth.

The result seems to be to at first clog the nostrils - with appropriate and yukky bleeding. This can be removed by GENTLE blowing of the nose and then using some cotton buds gently drying out the inside of the nasal passages. Another round of the steam inhalation follows and if necessary another round of the careful and gentle swabbing out.

I tried two rounds of this 'treatment' last night and found that after the first round I managed to get around three hours of uninterrupted sleep and after the second round managed to get five hours of uninterrupted sleep AND be in a position to get up and get about my business with the nasal passages still sufficiently clear to enable effortless breathing.

I suspect that by trying to do this on say a four times a day basis - perhaps interspersed with some saline spray through a nebulizer provided by the hospital when I go in for the radio therapy, and in combination with maintaining hydration at a high level I may get sufficient relief to actually get through the day without too much trauma.

I will keep people posted on whether this hypotethis works - or not.

Meanwhile I am continuing in the pursuit of more information about the world of this horrible illness. I have been pursuing leads concerning new drugs and treatment modalities.

I am looking into the use of something called AVASTIN.

There is some interesting information available out there, but of course anything I read on this subject merely creates an opportunity to ask the oncologists about it and elicit any professional information they would care to impart.