My husband Dan will be completing his 3rd round of chemo treatment this Monday. This journey began On April 30th when his ENT suspected cancer. We both believed that once the chemo and radiation were completed the treatment would end. We were unprepared for the next round of chemo and that's when the lyrics to the song Hotel California came back to me. We've read through many of the posts and we have now come to realize that while he is finishing chemo we are now entering the next phase of this treatment..watch and wait. Slowly but surely he is recovering his ability to do the simple things in life... like sipping a cup of coffee, sleeping without fear or just going out for a walk. I welcome any advice on how to make it through this transition from intense medical interventions to just waiting.

cjack

I recommend reading through the posts in the Coping/Anger fear forum as well as the After Treatment forum. You can quickly sift through what is relevant to your individual situation and may be quite surprised at how common our "unique" problems turn out to be.
I really like your clever reference to Hotel California. with all the youngsters now on the board, I'm adding the lyrics that really do fit post cancer in case they don't listen to oldie stations:
[quote]Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
'Relax,' said the night man,
'We are programmed to receive.
You can check-out any time you like,
But you can never leave!'[/quote]
My personal favorite transition aid remains putting Wine down my PEG tube in order to have "Happy Hour" with my wife/caregiver, but that's just me & my Dionysian life style.
good luck
charm

Great reply to cjack Charm...can really relate to what you wrote.

Thanks Charm. I thought we'd celebrate on Monday with a sip or 2 of champagne but we could switch to wine for the ongoing treatment...but didn't the captain say we haven't had that spirit here since 1969?

Cjack; Right you are:
[quote]So I called up the Captain,
'Please bring me my wine'He said, 'We haven't had thatspirit here since nineteen sixty nine' [/quote]From your signature line, it is clear that your husband and I both had that Spirit back in 1969 when we were 21 & 22 years old, so no problem. [quote]And still those voices are calling from far away,Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say...[/quote] Actually, after my surgery with stainless steel scapels on the recurrence turned out not to be enough, so even more radiation and chemo, other Hotel California lyrics struck me[quote]
They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can't kill the beast[/quote]
I fervently hope you never relate to those lyrics.
Again. Loved the Hotel CAncer subject line
charm

This just made me laugh. I will never see the song Hotel California the same. Yes I am one of those young ones, but I do love the oldies.

by the way Cjack, you husband's journey and my journey began on teh exact same day. I had surgery on April 30th to removed what they thought was just an ulcer. Now I am doing the whole thing again.

My husband's 3 month post radiation PET scan came back all clear. It feels like the Hotel CAncer just moved us to a room with a view! What a wonderful sense of relief! Angelia, hang in there! and Charm.. my husband did have that spirit in 1969...unfortunately he was in Vietnam at the time. I was but a mere child and the only spirits I knew about were the kind Dicken's wrote about.

Good news! I like to hear that. Congrats.