Cotton mouth Polly

Have you ever felt like there's a big ol' cotton ball stuffed in your mouth? Has your tongue ever been coated in a nasty white film? Have you ever felt like you're swallowing acid every time you eat? Or like you have one of those ridiculous horse-sized pills permanently lodged in your throat, and every time you swallow, it's like a needle scraping up against your esophagus? Well that's what I've felt like for the past 5 days now, and it SUCKS! Yes, Polly has encountered another lovely side effect of chemotherapy—mouth sores and "thrush." I haven't been able to swallow my pills, and it has been really painful to eat anything but soft, bland food. And I'm getting mighty sick of soft, bland food. I mean, I like yogurt, smoothies and ice cream—a lot—but enough already; bring on the flavorful Chinese food or Indian food!

Today, after about the fifth day of taking an oral drug and of swishing and swallowing this nasty medication for mouth sores, I think I'm finally turning the corner! I ate some pizza tonight, and it didn't kill going down my gullet. And I was actually able to swallow most of my pills again. I think I'll celebrate with some coffee flavored ice cream. Hey, I didn't say I was done with ice cream for good!

And it's finally raining here in Austin. Just the second time since last September. Yippee! I can hear the grass, trees and flowers sighing with relief.