We finally got a call from the Cross Cancer Institute on Thursday letting me know that the first day for radiation treatment will be Friday, January 25, 2008 @ 09:30. Unfortunately the call was from the lady who does the bookings (Lorne) and not from Doctor Jha, so I wasn’t able to ask a lot of questions. I did ask if she couldn’t get me started sooner, and she replied something to the effect that I’m lucky to have been given the January 25, 2008 date. And no, she wasn’t being mean or nasty in anyway. It felt like a fairly matter-of-fact statement.

I will assume that the delay has something to do with the presence of c. Diff in my system. By the way, my body is reacting well to the new meds for the infection. I’ve stopped using the Immodium, although I am downing a can of Ensure with Fibre every morning, with a couple of acidophilous capsules. Everything is working quite well, and not only am I maintaining weight, but I seem to have gained a pound in the last two days. Yay! But I must admit that I was quite bad earlier this week; Swiss Chalet chicken for dinner and Wendy’s chili and french fries for lunch the following day.

I haven’t heard from the chemo team. I’m not sure what their response will be, whether we can expect the first chemo on the same day, or the next day, or the day before, or when… I will try to connect with the good doctor on Monday. I’m also seriously considering running down to the Cross on Monday morning to have a chat with Dr. Jha during his open clinic.

In this coming week I have 3 physio sessions scheduled and a few hours with the speech/swallow folks at COMPRU. They are the team that made that video fluoroscope of my swallowing patterns. Now this one should be interesting! I may actually be able to see how much of the base of my tongue the surgeons removed. I also may get a few more hints (or at least some reactions) for the rehabilitation of my tongue before radiation and chemo.

I was reading a couple of articles on the eMedicine website about oropharyngeal rehabilitation which has raised some concerns… and I’m developing an appreciation for the concern of the team at the U of A. The radiation treatments could make swallowing ugly, really ugly… damn. The ladies have been trying to tell me, but I’m afraid that I’ve been a little dense.