Hi Anita and welcome to OCF. Sorry to meet you here, but glad you found us.

I take it your friend is 3 rads down, 32 to go? 35 is fairly standard. That number is pretty daunting, but she does have the luxury of seeing medical people every day, which is something you don't get with chemo and surgery. And she will need to see people every day. Symptoms can fluctuate wildly, and while she may have been told about something in her initially briefings, the onset of some side effects can come as a surprise. Any change in symptoms should be discussed with the nurses, they are very experienced at helping to minimise the side effects.

The chemo I'm guessing is Cisplatin, its fairly standard. Everyone is different, but for most people Cisplatin will redefine words like "nausea". The meds you refer to are a cocktail of anti-nausea drugs which hopefully will let her keep food down and not have stomach acid rushing past a burnt throat. The cocktail of meds can be difficult to get right for the individual, so there may be some trial and error on what works best for her.

Its important she keeps the machine working. Hydration, nutrition, toileting and movement. The body is needs a lot of fluids and calories (2500 daily minimum) to keep up the fight. This is at a time when she is struggling with nausea, and down the track the effects of the radiation make swallowing food difficult. She should be managing pain relief, the last thing she wants to be doing is "toughing it out". Follow the medical advice and keep on top of the pain relief before it becomes a problem and hinders the healing process. There are many threads and resources covering nearly everything your friend will go through, search the OCF forums with key words and you can usually find something. If you can't, by all means post a question.

It sounds like a cliche but a positive attitude makes an enormous difference. I always say "keep the chin up because its very contagious when it drops".

Lastly be kind to yourself. Lying awake stressing about her and wearing yourself out won't do her any good. The primary carer (if its not you) needs support, and its not always obvious what they need. They don't always know what they need. With us our daughter came over and the laundry was magically done. The dog was walked, the car was washed. She was just there. Took a load off my wife at a very difficult time.

I hope that helps a little. If you have any questions or want to share an update we'd love to help where we can.