Mr. M’s tongue is slowly but surely shrinking in size. Â In fact, 3 days ago Mr. M found out he could now close his mouth and his teeth in the upper jaw and lower jaw can now close and BITE! Â Mr. M was at first shy to tell this news. Â But he told us anyway just today. Â He was making fun of us while Dr. Bien Castro was using the BEES machine on Mr. M’s swollen lymph node on his neck. Â There was a squeeking sound. Â I noticed it too. Â Then Mr. M smiled and showed his teeth were now able to close and he was gritting his teeth to make those sounds. Â Ha ha ha. Â Alright!
Another new development is that Mr. M’s salivary glands are now active and have been so for 1 week. Â He has to drool out saliva because his tongue is not that small yet, he has difficulty swallowing it all.
Another new development which may be possitive or negative is that Mr. M’s tongue bleeds whenever he drinks any liquid. Â Yes, the skin is broken. Â But the bleeding stops after a few minutes. Â Mr. M spews out necrotic tissue, yellowish dark white. Â Stinky. Â Maybe the necrotic tissue is being pushed out in favor of new tissue? Â Only time will tell. Since the family is worried about the tongue bleeding, I bought for them a bottle of cayenne powder. Â This is meant in case of an emergency when the tongue refuses to stop bleeding. Â If and when that happens I instructed Mr. M to just stuff his tongue with a handful of the cayenne powder and it will STOP the bleeding.
Being able to BITE is wonderful, undeniable progress! Â But we are not out of danger yet. Â There is still the constant pain on Mr. M’s head which leads Mr. M to sleep in a position flat on his stomach because that is the only position with less pain. Â This pain seems to be connected with lymph fluid retention due to the blocked neck lymph node. Â If you have any ideas, please reply here with your suggestions.