Hi,
Am feeling very scared and stressed, and wondering how to help my husband.
He found a lump in his neck in Oct. '09. Three biopsies, two ENTs and one
radical neck dissection later, and we were told he has cancer at the BOT
which metastasized to one lymph node in his neck. The rnd removed 48 lymph
nodes and luckily 47 were benign.
He has OCPD (obsessive-compulsive personality disorder - not the anxiety disorder where people wash their hands all the time or some such), dysthemia (chronic depression) and prediabetes, and these conditions are all making his
compliance extremely difficult. He had his first cisplatin and radiation treatments last week and seemed to get through the chemo relatively well, in that he only had a few faint sensations of nausea, which we were able to control with one of the medications. But since then, he has developed a "mental block" to food and eating, when he's supposed to be eating as much as he can. I've tried to get him to up his food intake for over a month now, and he's been fixated on his blood sugar, and then supplements (some of which he's not supposed to take). His RO scared the you-know-what out of him today, by telling him that if he lost too much weight, treatment might have to be discontinued, and 6 weeks of rad. instead of 7 would be as good as not having
had any at all. I guess this would mean that he'd have to start at the beginning again. And I thought the feeding tube was the scary part. I am sick with worry for him and super-stressed myself. We have no siblings or kids, and I have fibromyalgia, so am not in the best shape, but I'm it! Any comments on how to help him or encourage him, given his other conditions, would be very gratefully appreciated. The Cancer Clinic is bringing their psychiatrist on board, so hopefully that will help.
Anne