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| Back to flying again |
Its been a long while since I penned my thoughts. So what have I been up to till now. Well, let me share the timeline since Dec 2012. Post treatment had its challenges, mainly eating or rather enjoying this and a severe dry mouth. The taste buds are still cross-wired and the only taste that resembles "true" is sour. So salad with fresh dressing is a real joy for me to eat. The taste that is horribly cross-wired is sugar. Infact I have begun to dislike this taste. So birthday cakes, chocolates, ice creams and fruits are all off the eating list. Besides this, due to the dry mouth, rice is just horrible in my mouth. Infact I can't recall when was the last time I consumed rice. Soup and salad is the main palate. Spicy food is off the list as well. The lining of the mouth is still raw after 2 years.
I have gained at least 10 kg since my post treatment and this weight gain is mostly from eating salad, soup and coffee (tea has an acidic taste in my mouth). I have gone back to playing golf on a regular basis and playing pretty good at that.
The post health regime is basically 3 pronged & its divided into 6 monthly checks.
- PET Scan,
- Dental
- ENT.
The main-stay is the regular PET scan. The cost of this highly sophisticated radioactive procedure is now manageable. The initial scan was $2000RM and every subsequent scan thereafter is 50% off. So wow! Thats affordable. The clinic is at Bangsar called Austral Diagnosis and Dr Raymond is the man there. Basically a radioactive dose of glucose is injected and after a period of ingestion, a machine is used to scan the body picking up high dosages of glucose concentration in the body. The theory being cancer cells have a higher uptake of glucose than normal cells. So if there any cancer it will be painted shades darker than normal cells.
The ENT is a regular 6 month checkup to see if there are any early symptoms of recurrence. The neck muscles have really hardened due to the radiotherapy. So a regular massage help keep the that area supple and flexible. So far it has been good news.
Dental is the biggest collateral damage through this treatment. The teeth had become serrated like a saw blade. The picture here shows how much my teeth had eroded. Both the top and bottom teeth were badly damaged. All in all 14 teeth were affected.
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| Before the dental treatment. |
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| After the dental treatment. |
The dental treatment was done at the University Hospital PJ. My deepest thanks to Dr Mazian for her great help, expertise & working on her "day off" to fix my teeth. This is a 6 monthly check up. I have to live with this knowing that all my teeth will eventually erode.
The next round of check up is in OCT 2014 including my aviation medical.
Till then cheers to everyone and thank you for reading and giving support.
My dear chap, you look 20 years younger in your cockpit photos, and far healthier than 20 years ago, to boot. O sahib, what is the secret of your saintly look, are you given to bathing in the streams of Paradise? The purity and serenity in radiance from your face - the new food habits?
ReplyDeleteWhatever, my friend with the filmstar looks, keep Hollywood and Mt.Olympus both at bay, even if they start to beg. But you might oblige some modelling agency searching, in vain, for one with the Messianic look.
Rainbows and ether appear to have re-created you. Respect the elements in all their forms, and continue to insist on Nectar as your drink of choice.
You'll be just fine; after all, you've faced every obstacle, and paid every price, and obeyed God.
With affection,
Kumar.
Thanks Kumar,
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