Hey sone
the very first post i put on theses boards over two years ago was answered by a man i love dearly called david.I had asked what to expect from radiotherapy and boy...did he tell me.I was devastated,but once i had recovered from the shock i set about making sure i was ready to help Rob in every sense of the word.Nothing caught me out or came as a shock,and i had everything covered.what i didn't have covered was how quickly he would fall.We had been told he should get through to week three or four before he got sick...he got through to DAY three!!!

I posted then "can it only be day three?".He was burnt outside and inside he had sloughing green mouth sores,a burn line down his tongue,weeping blisters on his neck,he couldn't eat or drink,he lost pounds in days,and had to have an emergency peg fitted.Every day we went for treatment i demanded a consultation with the oncology registrar and he tweeked and tweeked his meds until at last they found a combo that did the trick.He had thrush in his mouth that increased the pain to unbelievable levels,but gradually between the hospital and the fantastic people on these boards he got to a place where he could just about bear it.Of course he had no one to worry about except himself(no kids) and i did everything for him.all he had to do was get in the car every day.No one here wants to be unkind sone but by the same token this is no fuzzy lovey forum.We deal in the hard facts of Oral Cancer ...its not pretty and not to be messed with.Who is caring for you sone?do you have a good support network,and if you don't can this be remedied?If you have a chief caregiver,get them to join the forum and learn what they need to know to help you get back on track and finish this damn treatment.There are so many drugs out there to make this experience more manageable,but they may not allow you to be a mum for a few weeks,but whats a few weeks out of your potential lifetime?Rob had old fashioned rads not imrt which wasn't so widely used in the UK and is much harder to take,and he had red hair and pale skin which gary told me was also made things a bit harder than most.He never even wanted to start the treatment let alone stop in the middle,but against all the odds he did it and so can you.

My kitchen looked like a pharmacy and i had a spread sheet schedule to follow all the different meds rob was on.sometimes he would take a couple of doses and then refused to take any more as they made him feel bad,but much as i loved him,i was a bully and i put his meds down his peg so sometimes he didnt even know(or care) what i was giving him.Often its the simplest things that work and Rob found the baking soda and salt swish invaluable,along with nystatin for the thrush,mucodyne mouth wash(topical analgesia)soluble paracetamol.voltarol anti inflammatory,fentanyl patches,liquid morphine,omeprazole to protect his stomach,aqeous cream for his neck,anti constipation liquids,and so on and on and on.

No one wants to be harsh Sone but tough love is much talked about here and sometimes unpleasant truths need to be told.some people on theses boards have had to take very short break form treatment because they have got so sick with dehydration and pain,but they all have to go back as soon as they can and finish this..... there only chance of survival.

Pleas get some help and then get back on the horse and see it through

love