LOL that is OC not PC for sure. Sorry about that.

no problem. thanks guys to both of you for your advice.
im guessing he wouldnt be getting seed inplants in his tongue because his issues are in his cheek/jaw not the tongue...
i'm going to advise them to be on the alert for ringing in the ears

hey everyone,
just thought i would send an update. i realize i now likely fall into the "in treatment" forum but it seems to make more sense to just continue the convo with those of you who have already responded to me along the way from when i first started posting in november.
future FIL is doing well. he is tired a lot, but i think its good for him to sleep. trach and peg are still in, he is in his third week of radiation and chemo. hes been getting chemo 1x per week and rad the other 5 days. i visited last weekend and he was in good spirits, just tired a lot. sometimes he falls asleep while you are talking to him. is this normal??? i know this is very tolling on the body so i would rather him sleep and recover. due to the surgery he has no movement on the one side of his face. it is very swollen, but has decreased significantly since the surgery. ive been told it wont go down any more until facial reconstruction.
our wedding is planned for september, i am hoping everything is going to go OK.

after the rad/chemo rounds end, how long does the team of dr's wait to do a PET scan?

Some get the scan a few months out. My team is waiting for 5 months. They say they get too many false positives with early scans. My tumor area is visable with the naked eye (soft palet) so most of the early follow ups have been simple visual exams.

Kelly

andy is on IMRT 26 and he falls asleep while im talking to him...so i hope it is normal...maybe im just boring him lol.

This Tx is very taxing on our body, both physically and mentally and each of us can handle it differently so whatever is normal for him right now is just that. I know that starting about my 4th week things really went south and I spent most of my days laying in my bed watching TV and drifting off to sleep whenever I needed to. I don't ever remember falling asleep when someone was talking to me but whatever works. I will say it will probably continue to be more taxing on him especially the few weeks POST Tx so be prepared.

thanks guys. its hard because i am in NJ and they are in upstate NY so im not there but i know theres much to prepare myself for.

As far as the swelling is concerned, my docs told me after 6 months its pretty much what its going to look like. However it may go down a tiny bit more. It takes a year to heal from this type of operation. After the 1 year mark then the docs know what they will be working with and can do reconstruction surgery.

I cant wait for mine. Im tired of people staring at me. I stare every single one of them down too. If they want to speak to me, I would gladly tell them why Im so funny looking. I was told it may take liposuction to make my face more symetrical.

Best of luck to your father in law.

im sorry for the cruel staring, christine. they just dont know how inspirational you are!
i know my future FIL is very self conscious about his appearance currently and does not want visitors, i am sure he feels the same way you do and have for a while.
i did not realize it takes a whole year until reconstruction- is that typical? looking at the timeline in my signature, is that what you would predict as well?

sorry ur FIL has to go thru this...and ur family as well.

people can be so cruel. mostly ignorant...