Good luck, Mrs. J. The radiation is not a pretty process. Some challenges I felt I was unable to find a solution for.....

Medication - at the time, I was working outside the home 6-7 hours a day. Hubby couldn't remember if/when he took anything, wouldn't write it down, wouldn't use an app, etc. Easy to to pill "set-ups" for the regular stuff, but there were a lot of flexible meds (pain, infections, etc). I wasn't in the house to actually keep track FOR him, and he sucked at keeping track himself.

Balance - how much to do FOR him, and how much to simply leave him to sink or swim. Sounds kind of cold, but I didn't want him to sink down into being a victim/patient, and wanted him to maintain control over as much as possible without me simply "taking over" - not sure if I achieved the proper balance, but it's all behind us now.

Best of luck to you both! It's a rough time, but you WILL come out on the "other side" of all this!


Wife to patient with poorly differentiated, non-keratinized, squamous cell carcinoma in one tonsil. Stage 4. T2N2 with metastisation to three lymph nodes of the left neck.
Dx Nov '14
Tonsillectomy and neck dissection Nov '14
Chemo (cisplatin) & radiation started 12/10/14