171. I haven't posted in a long time. I wasn't sure to renew my blog for another year whether anyone would care to read what I've still got to say. But I've decided: let's give this a go for another year. So I'm back.

 I won't bore you with what I did last summer.  It's too far in the past already.  I'll get right down to the nitty gritty.

I was on 2 different chemo treatments since January of last year.  Both stopped working after a few months.  December 14th I got started on "targeted therapy".  I just began the second round of it.  My bloodwork was promising after the first round but there are of course no guarantees with this treatment either.  Right before the New Year long weekend I thought I was having an abscessed upper molar.  In fact, the whole right side of my mouth was infected to the point that my cheek was swollen also and I had severe nerve pain in my right jaw.  There has been some debate whether or not I had/have oral shingles. In case you are wondering about the symptoms: the right side of my mouth was covered in sores, with bleeding and extremely painful, especially at night.  My right cheek was swollen with red patches and blood vessels creeping up to my right eye.  Thankfully it has resolved since then and not done any damage to my eye or my hearing.  When I went to see the dentist she said that the difference between the left side of my mouth and the right side was "like day and night".  However she could not confirm it to be shingles.  She admitted she did not know.  I was prescribed antibiotics and a mouth rinse.  When I saw a periodontist a week later, he thought it might be shingles but couldn't confirm this either because by then the lesions had healed and there was no more pus or fluid coming out of it.  When visiting the periodontist the right side of my mouth was extremely itchy.  The itchiness disappeared after a few days.  Most symptoms have disappeared and I am free of pain now.  I have had a blood test done since for (oral) shingles but haven't received the results yet.  I'll keep you posted.

Back in a few days.  Keep warm and stay healthy.  SanTeh!