 Senior Patient Advocate Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 8,311 | Re the mask, just prepare yourself for a very confining moment. Most here were just unprepared for that experience and that made it worse.
Re the food and Tx issues, you will loose your taste and appitite and you will loose a lot of weight and will regain most of your taste, appitite and weight but very slowly over a 2 year period so the advice we give everyone at your stage is to eat all your favorite things without any of the normal concerns. My taste started to go about the 2nd week of rad and it was really frustrating to put something in my mouth knowing what it was going to taste like but then realizing what I just put in my mouth tasted like crap! Do yourself a favor and eat whatever you want; however much you want and when you want it until it happens to you. Hot Fudge Sundae for Breakfast!
David
Age 58 at Dx, HPV16+ SCC, Stage IV BOT+2 nodes, non smoker, casual drinker, exercise nut, Cisplatin x 3 & concurrent IMRT x 35,(70 Gy), no surgery, no Peg, Tx at Moffitt over Aug 06. Jun 07, back to riding my bike 100 miles a wk. Now doing 12 Spin classes and 60 outdoor miles per wk. Nov 13 completed Hilly Century ride for Cancer, 104 miles, 1st Place in my age group. Apr 2014 & 15, Spun for 9 straight hrs to raise $$ for YMCA's Livestrong Program. Certified Spin Instructor Jun 2014.
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