Dawn Brocco's Life & Design Blog

Asked hubby to slather comfrey salve onto my back after radiation the other day. You and your natural sh*t, he says, half joking. Give me chemicals!

Like the Aquaphor samples in the changing room for patients to use?, I ask. Which is 41% petrolatum. As if I wanted petroleum products sinking into my skin.

He's not fond of the smell and greasiness (organic olive oil) of the salve. I can't afford to be fussy about these things, whether smell or taste. Am trying to do my best to keep this bod as healthy as I can.

Last night he said I was beginning to look a little pink. I don't tan much. I always burn first when outside, and some parts, like back of legs, never tan!, so, although I was surprised the radiation is *coloring* me already (as they said it wouldn't happen til near the end of radiation), I'm not really that surprised, considering the paleness of my skin.

So, I pricked open a seabuckthorn oil capsule and spread it on chest and back and today it does look better already. So, I may use this right after rad sessions, and the (oilier) comfrey salve before bed to moisturize overnight. And no more heat packs on the neck, stiff neck, notwithstanding.

We couldn't place the smell of the seabuckthorn oil. Smelled familiar, but it took a while to compare it to oil paints.

But, now he doesn't care about the smell!, so long as it helps me. He doesn't want me to suffer. Heck, *I* don't want me to suffer! I've been through enough already.

And I AM surprised at the not unpleasant taste of the aloe vera juice. Which is SO good, considering how often and for how long I'll be drinking it.

Xerox repair guy coming yesterday. SO good, as I had a small shop order to print. And DD took me to the health food store to look for Anna's suggestion of sublingual melatonin and GABA calm - an amino acid, which they didn't have exactly, so got the next closest thing for now, which seemed to help.

But will order the sublinguals (to bypass the already stressed liver) as soon as I can. And we were out of sugar. Not that knowing that would have stopped me from putting 2 carrot/apple cakes into the oven. With the exhaust fan on, of course!

It's healthy, soft food - lots of shredded carrots, apples, yogurt and molasses - which I can make mushy, if and when needed, by soaking in a little milk. They talk about feeding tubes like it's a typical thing. Ack. I *really* hope not.