Out Like A Lion

A week and a half ago Aaron had his third round of chemo and to that point the side effects had been pretty mild. He struggled mostly with fatigue until two days ago when his mouth and throat filled with painful sores. You can see in the photo how swollen the sores have made his mouth. He can't eat and does not sleep well. He is able to get naps in throughout the day, and I am always glad when he sleeps because it's a time when he can escape the pain. He rinses with a prescription mouthwash every hour. It has lidocaine as one of the ingredients and it helps to numb his mouth a bit. This experience has reminded me of the phrase, "In like a lamb, out like a lion." I thought this chemo was going to just be as simple as Aaron sleeping a lot more, but as we move in to the last doses, chemo is living up to its reputation and it looks like it will go out like a lion as far as the side effects go. His goal is to make it through the maximum 6 rounds. We are hopeful these sores will clear up in time for round 4 in two weeks.