Ellen,

Some people like KirkGeorgia have sailed through the treatment while working and maintaining some sense of normalcy in their lives. I feel like a big baby telling my story after knowing his. I did not thing the radiation was as tough as what my wife thinks it was laugh . I went back to work a couple of weeks after treatment ended because I felt the worse was over. I later found out that radiation was the gift that keeps on giving. I had so many side effects and the doctors acted like I was nuts bringing them up and blaming it on chemo and radiation. Almost all of them have now gone away so I know it was what I thought.

Your friend Val has a rough road ahead. You could do best by sending him to this site and reading some of the things people go through by clicking on the treatment links on the main entry page. He may or may not experience the same things as everybody else did and he may not want to know. If he won't check it out, you should so you can better help him manuever through the things that will happen during and after treatment.

Kirk, I have never said this but you are one of my heros. I am sure it was rougher than you portray but I am still amazed at how well you did!

Ed

SCC Stage IV, BOT, T2N2bM0
Cisplatin/5FU x 3, 40 days radiation
Diagnosis 07/21/03 tx completed 10/08/03
Post Radiation Lower Motor Neuron Syndrome 3/08.
Cervical Spinal Stenosis 01/11
Cervical Myelitis 09/12
Thoracic Paraplegia 10/12
Dysautonomia 11/12
Hospice care 09/12-01/13.
COPD 01/14
Intermittent CHF 6/15
Feeding tube NPO 03/16
VFI 12/2016
ORN 12/2017
Cardiac Event 06/2018
Bilateral VFI 01/2021
Thoracotomy Bilobectomy 01/2022
Bilateral VFI 05/2022
Total Laryngectomy 01/2023