I'm into the last full week of my radiation treatment, and the effects are becoming a bit much for my voice: it has retreated into a corner to sulk.
I'm used to this problem and have a notebook at the ready to scribble messages on, supplemented with an occasional hoarse croak.
Meanwhile my throat has become a busy highway for phlegm and the odd spatter of blood (quite normal, for my treatment). Night-times are most congested and feature a lot of honking and spluttering through several sections of roadworks.
On the exterior, my neck has progressed to a deep shade of brown-red. It's not so much bronzed now, it is more braised. To set it off, I am sporting a racing stripe on the front of my throat, where my spine has been shielded from the radiation. See picture at right. The stripe passes over my tracheostomy scar.
So, the plan ahead is for radiation treatment to continue this week and next Monday, and then a few weeks of recovery towards sleeping, eating and drinking normally.
