Well, I feel better today. Still weak, still occasionally nauseated, but I can eat and am doing my best. Already lost the taste thing, which makes everything gross, but at least largely speaking I can hold it down.

Saw my rad oncologist today. My tumor is putting a lot of pressure on those nerves around and under the ear and it can get pretty blinding. He says he hopes the radiation will start to shrink that soon but that it's too early to tell if it's responding well or not. Anyone have any insight here? I'd like to think that at the very least I won't have to live with the crippling "ear infection" thing the whole time, too. I thought the tumor would already be smaller -- he didn't seem to want to commit either way to that theory.

As always, thank you guys for making me feel better. I can't deny I needed a pick-me-up and you guys did a great job, it really does help knowing other people survived this!

I'm not buying into the loser tab, by the way, but I did fall into the "why am I not as tough as I thought" trap. Thanks for being here!

The Hellion