I also had radiation only, no chemo. Yesterday was 4 weeks from my last day of RADS. The first 2 weeks I thought I had this thing in the bag but it hit me like a ton of bricks. Sores in my mouth, anything that came in contact with my tongue felt like a razor blade, loss of tastebuds except for chocolate, coffee and peanut butter. I lived off of oatmeal with calorie supplements and Chocolate ScandiShake that had 600 calories when mixed with whole milk. They were the only things I could get down. My saliva was so thick I couldn't even drink Ensure. My neck and lower mouth looked like one nasty sunburn and hurt like a 'rhymes with witch'! By this time it also hurt to swallow. I'll never forget the day I went in for treatment and burst into tears because I was in so much pain thinking I had to just endure this. Boy, did I feel silly when they told me I could take painkillers. I was not a happy camper in the least when I realized I was losing hair on the nape of my neck after growing it out for a whole year. I also lost my voice for 3-4 weeks which didn't really matter because it hurt so bad to talk anyway. I got a long weekend before my last week which they sprung on me, a "tongue boost" is how they referred to it. 4 weeks out and I'm finally really starting to taste again. I get sores in my mouth when I eat but they eventually go away in a few hours. But it's that "hurts so good" mentality because I was so hungry for so long, lost 25lbs and have only managed to gain 3 back so far. Anyway...that was just my experience. Everyone's different.

MissB