I got knocked down, but I'll get up.

I didn't intend to write anything tonight (because I honestly don't feel like it), but now that I'm sitting here...

Radiation is going well (or as well as something that's injuring and destroying my cells could be going...). I haven't really experienced any side effects. I say "haven't really" because I have a cold right now and it's hard to tell what the sore throat is a result from. But in turn, I do have a sexy, throaty voice right now (if you're into that nasally, hoarse-sounding kinda thing). ;)

I was actually a little freaked out the other day...a gland on the side of my throat (where the jaw bone meets under the earlobe) is swollen and tender. I freaked because the first thing I thought of was another swollen lymph node. Of course it wasn't. My radiation oncologist checked it before my treatment yesterday and told me he didn't feel any swollen lymph nodes. Yea! This was just another gland associated with having a sore throat. He prescribed an antibiotic to help, though.

Back to the side effects...I'm having a reaction to wearing the mask. No, not psychological--at least any more. It's irritating the side of my neck. Apparently the mask and my "ivory white skin" (another compliment from the nurses) don't agree with each other. It should go away after treatment. Speaking of the horrid mask, it is getting easier to wear. It still sucks and I still get anxious thinking about it, but once I'm in there, it's okay. The radiation process is taking a shorter amount of time, so I end up having to wear the mask about 10 minutes. I actually caught a glimpse of myself in the radiation machine while on the table. The machine has a type of mirror on it that happens to be directly overhead when they move the table back. I know I was kidding about the whole Pinhead thing at first, but whoa...not joking now. I look as atrocious as it feels. And I'm still half-naked.

Alright...I went back to proofread this and realize how disorganized this is. I've jumped from one subject to the next. Why stop now!

We went to Chuck E. Cheese's again tonight for another school fundraiser. This time I made sure to invite my brother, Bryan. For reference, read comments here. So Mom, Matt, Bryan, Melony and I were all there tonight. We ate, played games, won tickets. Matt actually won 256 tickets on a game. So we were able to buy 3 Sweetart packs instead of just 1. Apparently gas isn't the only thing that went up in price.

Okay. Enough rambling for one night. I have something fun and interesting I intend on posting in the future. Ha! Take a stab at guessing what that's going to be. I dare you.

Thanks and goodnight.

By the way, the title to this blog is a Joey Ramone song. He died of lymphoma in 2001 after having it for 7 years.