For those of you keeping track at home (I know I was), today was in fact the final day of radiation.  Not by coincidence, my esophagus hurts terribly bad today...very hard to swallow.  Dr. Schwaibold tells me that my swallowing functions should be back to 'normal' (that word has little meaning to me now) in about 10 days.  I'm counting them...

I've had terrible problems with coughing lately, which may have been triggered by the reflux I'd been experiencing from radiation.  Whatever the case, the very act of coughing causes all sort of problems.  First, the j-tube is located right on the part of my left belly that contracts when I cough.  The last of the 3 stitches that was holding the j-tube in place finally popped off, so now it's just held in place with some really strong tape.  It's not strong enough to keep the thing from moving in and out a bit when I cough though, so every cough hurts.  Each cough is really rough on my entire right side (where my last surgery was) as well.  I hate coughing. 

As of now, my last day of chemo is set for the 25th of November.  We're heading back to MD Anderson in Houston in a few weeks for follow up appointments, and the oncologist may recommend more.  I hope not.  I'm ready for something other than cancer treatments.  Overall I think I've done fairly well with them, but I'm really over it at this point.  Obviously, if they say I need more, I'll do more.  Whatever it takes.

Some good news:  my blood counts are all looking good, especially my hemoglobin.  It's been as low as 6.4, but it's been steadily rising and is now up to 11.4 (my target is around 14). 

If you haven't already, go and check out some of the new potential contestants for season 2 of the Next Food Network Star.  www.foodnetwork.com  I remember when I was one of those internet contestants, and I swear the online voting portion was as stressful as the actual competition.  I'm very interested to see how this next season progresses.  Should be a fun to watch...

As always, I'm tired.  Thank you all for keeping up with me.  I know some of you have expressed concern that I'm not posting as frequently, but there's honestly not much going on right now. 

Best wishes to you all and I hope everyone who celebrates it enjoys their Thanksgiving (there's no Thanksgiving in Germany...they have turkeys, just no Pilgrims)

Hans