I get free cookies at Dr. Dean Davis' office now — the signal that my radiation has begun.

I went in last  Monday, Nov. 12,  for what I thought was just to get X-rays. I did get the X-rays but only as a prelude to strapping me down for radiation.

Therapists Jesse and Wayne lined me all up, explained how they would begin on my lower right neck and work around to my lower left neck.

They said I wouldn't feel a thing.

For now.

It will take awhile — a few weeks of five-times a week radiation — to eliminate my tastebuds, dry out my mouth and inflame my throat so I can't swallow. Dr. Davis said I can eat well at Thanksgiving but not Christmas.

That's why I have this stomach tube so I can be fed directly into my tummy. With liquid such as Ensure.

The tube may be my new best friend during that time. But it is not now. I have to clean this reddish-brown guck around my stomach port. The good doctor tells me that's mid-body mucus.

I'm guessing the higher you go up, the more green it gets.

Speaking of colors. Not only has my tumor shrunk with this chemo stuff (about 50 percent), but it has turned from an old hamburger sort of tint to a pinkish glow.

That's good news, the doctor said. Well on its way to being cured.

Meanwhile, back at the radiation table, here's how that works. My white mesh mask and shoulder braces lock me in while this big round machine does a three-fourths orbit around my neck.

The actual radiation can't be seen, but it sounds like an anemic horn from a Model T. The therapists leave me alone in the room (no sense all of us getting hurt), while the pre-programmed machine zaps me.

It'll take a little time to hurt me, but rest assured, the regiment is determined to  do some serious messing with my throat.

On Wednesday, I went back in for more chemo. Not as much as before, but enough to make me tired.

That's the nature of this beast. They wipe you out.. You recover. They wipe you out some more. You recover.  Broken record until you're cured.

And while the chemo was less, it still knocked me down almost as much as the first time. Four times I went to kneel at the porcelin god Wed., Thurs. and Friday, and then I went crazy, with five more trips between Friday and Saturday morning.

That prompted me to call Dr. Anthony Ciarolla who said I could stop taking the chemo tablets for awhile. On Sunday I felt pretty good, but this Monday I was light headed most of the morning and feeling nauseous.

As I've said, people who have this disease actually survive stuff. And I'm learning it's not good stuff. 

P.S. I went out and played 9 holes at Buena Vista Golf Course last Monday with my brother. I took a Vicodin because my stomach tube hurt. I went pippyup Tuesday morning. The good doctor tells me narcotics will do that to you. What good is a pain killer if it just causes you more pain? Answer me that, drug lords.