Sore Throat and Liquid/Soft Diet

When I talked to my radiation oncologist before I started this she pretty much guaranteed me a sore throat due to the anatomical proximity of the cervical spine and the throat.  There is just no way to avoid hitting it and still radiate the majority of my c-spine.  She said if it got bad and I couldn't eat much to let them know and they had some medication I could take.


Sunday, my throat started hurting.  It feels like I have a bad case of strep almost.  Swallowing is painful and it feel likes I have a lump in my throat and like it's really raw.  Last night and today I ate macaroni and cheese, because it sounded good and went down without much effort.

Today I went in for radiation and I mentioned to the nurse on the way out that it was starting to hurt and making me not really want to eat anything because it hurt to swallow.  She seemed surprised that it was doing it already, but took me back and looked down my throat and then went and told the doctor.  They tried to give me this absolutely AWFUL stuff I had back during one of my rounds of chemo where I had some pretty bad mouth sores.  When I made a face and said it made me nauseous last time I had it, she said I should put it in a straw and shove it to the back of my throat.  Yeah that's exactly what I really want to do when my throat hurts.  I told her I'd pass on that and they could keep the "krekow's mouthwash" or whatever that nasty pink stuff is called.

The nurse tried to talk me into it, and I said, sometimes when you are dealing with this palliative care you have to choose the lessor of two evils.  Evil #1 = sore throat, liquid/soft food diet.  Evil #2 = nasty tasting medicine that might make me throw up irritating my throat even more.  I think I'd prefer a couple of weeks of juicing, smoothies, and soup, thank you.