A new problem has arisen this morning.  It’s something that should have been expected, but it kinda snuck  up on me.  While the medical team assures me it will be ok, I think the fact that it happens so infrequently gives reason for pause (I’m one of only a handful of patients on the unit that have this issue the entire year).  As I’ve said before, so far I’ve done really well.  There are things you can do to help keep problems at bay like brush your teeth, eat ice chips, eat things that are easy on your throat, but this problem doesn’t have prevention.  So here I sit staring at the walls, wondering if a solution will just appear.  Wondering if there is indeed nothing I could have done about this.  Wondering how this will work out, because you see my problem is that it’s Christmas Eve and there is no chimney in my room.  How in the world will Santa deliver my presents???