With any luck, the symptoms I am experiencing will develop and plateau, rather than simply increase on some kind of curve forever. At least, that seems to be how my various medical professionals tell it. From here on out, something new may happen every 3 days or so. Right now, there is some pain with the mechanics of swallowing but no pain related to kinds of food (such as tomato sauce). If I swallow a little too much, it hurts and I get this weird pain that shoots down my right arm. If I had to guess, that would be the result of swelling.

Which makes me glad for the magic mouthwash. The compounds vary from hospital to hospital, but the Jewish seems to prefer a combination of a steroid, an antifungal and an analgesic. So 4 times a day I now gargle and swallow what is essentially a hydrocortizone smoothie. I can hear the voice of Homer Simpson in the distance: “mmmm, hydrocortizone!”

It definitely helps with the swelling, and although the taste is awful, so far it is the only bad thing happening to my taste. I’m also maxing out on the Tylenol, as the next step is codeine, which will put me to sleep. I’m not a big fan, at least not during the daytime.

This next week is a big one with the Learneds in town, but I am going to have to take it easy. Fatigue usually hits sometime in the afternoon post-beam, and pretty soon I will need to get back into the habit of a regular nap, so that I can function better the rest of the time.

Oddly, weekends are hardest as a day or two away from the beam seems to allow new symptoms to sprout or show themselves. I don’t understand it, but at least I’ve got drugs to ward off whatever happens next.