"And we'll have fun, fun, fun ...."

A "special" day yesterday. It began at 7:30, over in Stow, where I had a visit with an oral surgeon, who removed a Bad Tooth (a lower left molar), crown and all (regicide!), the first step in a long journey to an implant. (I've had one done before, so I know the process.)

So ... shots in the mouth, tugging and prying, a splitting of the double root of the tooth ... success!

My jaw and face numb as a moon rock, I then headed up to Seidman Cancer Center in Beachwood for Radiation Session #1 (of 10), Joyce my chauffeur. (And don't get me started on I-271 construction, a project which has taken longer to complete than the pyramids.)

It was actually fairly swift up there at Seidman. They'd done all the measuring-and-marking the day before, so all they had to do was place me, shirtless, on the slab (ominous word), insert me in the Zapping Machine, where, quickly I was zapped, first through the chest (around the breastbone), then, after a rotation, through the back, all zappings aimed at vertebrae T-8, T-9 (the most Evil of them), T-10.

All the zapping actually took only a couple of minutes.

Then I was done and chatting with the radiation oncologist, who just reminded me of some of the potential side-effects (e.g., a feeling in my esophagus--through which the front zapping zooms--of a kind of acid reflux). So far ... none of that.

Meanwhile, my spittle was red, then pink as the clotting took hold. Some pain, which Advil handled pretty well. (I did not even fill the Rx for a more ... powerful ... painkiller.) This morning, I've got a bit of swelling ... I don't quite look as if Mike Tyson punched me ... but close. But I know things are improving.

So, in about twenty minutes, it's back up to Seidman for my 10:30 appointment with the Zapping Machine.

Earlier this morning, I made my way to the coffee shop, where I did my Usual. And felt proud of myself. I know I must keep doing things, or I won't be able to do things. Nature's Most Fell Law.

Anyway, just a bit of an update. I'm hanging in there ... which is better than, you know, hanging.