No coughing during the night. A solid eight hours of nocturnal bliss made for a very comfortable day Wednesday. It was topped by a very quick in-and-out treatment in less than 15 minutes. I was at the hospital a total of 22 minutes. That's the fast-pitch record so far. The session included two x-rays, a weekly procedure to make certain the bony structure has remained the same and no treatment adjustments are necessary. Apparently the bony structure changes with variations in weight.
The only draw back in an otherwise great day was the onset of a sore throat -- promised as one of the more certain side effects of throat radiation therapy. If started Wednesday evening and progressed during the night so that it is "hurtin' pritty good" this afternoon.
This is actually a good sign even if it is uncomfortable. The "acutely responding" normal tissues in my throat react to the radiation pretty much the same way the tumor cells respond. So if I have a sore throat that means something good is happening in there and tumor cells are getting killed -- No Pain, No Gain.
The pain has not gone beyond the "my throat is sore" phase. Some patients have reported pain so severe it limits the ability to swallow food.
While all this is going on I have kept up with the rest of the world, of course. There was a little flury of excitement when Fidel Castro turned over the Cuban government controls to his brother Raul. One of my favorite sites for news from within Cuba is www.cubanet.org. This site has stories from the independent (dissident) journalists as well as links to Cuba's official, controlled press. Where else could I learn that thieves robbed the farm of Antonio Alonso, a leader in the anti-government farmers organization, and left him only with the pants he wore?
And the big news today -- the arrest of the terrorists in London and the increased airport security -- make me very glad I no longer fly around for a living.
And finally a bit of South Florida news:
Eugene Salvage, the police chief at Fort Pierce, has been arrested for forging his ex-wife's name on a $5,800 check. His ex-wife is Gwendolyn Boyd, police chief in North Miami. She's the one who did away with the swimming requirement for police officers in order to make it easier to recruit Haitian-American officers.
