T - 2 days!
Last day for chemo, and it's Melphalan--one of the strongest chemo drugs I've ever had.
The worst side known side effect? Mouth sores or mucositis, large white sores in your mouth, on your tongue and gums, down your esophagus, and into your stomach. They make eating almost impossible and are often the cause for people to be fed intravenously while getting a bone marrow transplant.
There is hope, however! The smart folks at LDS Hospital have figured out that if your mouth is cold for a few minutes before Melphalan is infused into your body and for 30 minutes afterwards, the mouth sores are significantly reduced in number, duration, and intensity.
What does that mean to me? I get to eat popsicles, only the grape ones, for about an hour while Melphalan drips into my veins through my central line.
7.5 popsicles and slightly under an hour later, and I can finally quit shivering and keeping my mouth as cold as it can stand.
Now, when I open my mouth, my tongue is almost black with all of those artificial dyes and so are my gums and around my teeth. It's quite the affect for Halloween!
But aren't those artificial colors known to cause cancer? My sister, Tress, reminds me that those statements are effective only for California, so I'm okay hanging out in Utah. :-)
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