A Gland Ole Time

This is the first week since I came back to work that resembles "full-time" work. This includes getting up early and doing the morning commute, and then scrambling back home to get chores done before I am fully exhausted. As I predicted, it is turning out to be a tiring week thus far as body gets re-accustomed to the old schedule. This isn't a result from being on the chemo, but a result of sitting on one's ass for the greater part of eight months.

The edema is still behaving itself, and it appears that I will be able to get by with taking two maintenance doses of Lasix (20mg) a month. This is assuming that I stick to the low-sodium diet, wear the compression stockings, and other not-fun things.

Ever since I came out of the second transplant, I have had this issue with with my mouth and neck. Every so often, say about once a month, I would wake up with a blood blister on that little thingy underneath your tongue. (Sorry, I don't know what the official name is.) When this happens, it swells up a bit, and if I ate something, my left side of my neck would swell up, making it painful to eat and swallow. If I stopped eating for a couple hours, it would calm down and go away. I brought it up to the doctors when I was in treatment, but it never happened when I was there, so it could not be diagnosed.

Well, I had another episode earlier this week, and it was quite severe. The lump in my neck was almost the size of a golf ball. That was enough for me. I called my doctor and asked if he could see me that day so he could check it out. I was in his office within 2 hours.

Well, it turned out to be a swollen salivary gland, perhaps used by a salivary stone or bacterial infection that got me while my immune system was down. So I am now on penicillin to try to get rid of it. I already take a handful of pills and supplements every day -- why not take one more?