UCLA

Susan and I are up at 0 Dark Thirty, we leave Pasadena at 6:15 and barely make it on time for the 7:30 check in at the UCLA dental office just 30 miles away. LA has amazing traffic, I forget that we are relatively immune to it living close to where we worked and now, being retired, we rarely get mixed up in it. The prosthetist takes X-rays of my teeth and (fortunately!) determines none have to be pulled. She closely looks at every tooth and advises that I should have a ‘deep cleaning’, one where they clean the teeth deep into the gums under local anesthetic. No problem, I will make an appointment with my regular great dentist for next week. She makes up a stent which will secure my tongue and mouth so it will not move during radiation treatment. Also she takes an impression to make sort of a tooth guard which will hold fluoride gell. I will need to wear it for 15 minutes every day for the rest of my life. She goes into great detail as to the direct and side effects of radiation on the mouth. I will lose all of the saliva glands on my lower mouth, period. The radiation prescribed will nuke them and they will not come back. Another certain issue is dry mouth. What is not certain is how much less than 100% and when it will recover. Advises carrying a water and spray bottle to keep mouth lubricated to help the good microbes recover. Many people have difficulty eating and may need a tube for feeding.

I am feeling more like I am getting a good cop-bad cop treatment. One doctor will say something positive like this type cancer has a great prospect for treatment, period. Then the next, possibly induced by lawyers, goes on about what could happen. The very experienced oncologist advised the possibility of hearing loss although she said it is rare, she has only encountered it once. Susan and our son Michael went skydiving once and they had to watch a long video where the presenter drolled on about what could go wrong. It kind of feels like that. I am just hoping that the countless warnings about what could go wrong will not happen although I know some of them to some extent will happen.

We will return next week to check and pick up the oral appliances. On the way home we stop at one of my favorite restaurants, part of Susan’s secret plan to fatten me up. The Stinking Rose, has a garlic infused menu. I bulk up on Vitamin G, safe from vampires for a few days.  Potato garlic soup, brie with garlic, asparagus with blue cheese & garlic, whats not to like. Everything has garlic, even some of the ice cream. 

Waiting for tomorrow. No great theme song for today, just the acoustic version of ‘I’m So Glad’ playing on my internal juke box , still a good sound. 

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