Friday, 09/28/12, marked my half-way through treatment. I have 17 Rads TX and 3 Chemos to go. My mouth is pretty dry and blistered and my taste buds are down to prob 20% if that.
I am still eating some, I eat breakfast and I eat some supper. I have been working from home this week and to keep the time to eat to a minimum I do two jevitys for lunch. I usually eat small supper so I add one jevity then.
I take 1 ducolax and 2 senna's for each meal for stool softener. And a zantac for heartburn.
I am still taking Fluconazole for thrush. Still can not consume fruit or sweet things, guess it is the blistering in the mouth and tongue.
I pretty much take loritab every 4-5 hours (on liquid now).

I went to the ENT Friday for my first Monthly check-up and he put a scope thru my nose and looked at the base of the tongue, he said all looks well. BUT, when he pulled it out My Nose started bleeding a lot. And I had to go to RAD TX. I did recline and put some pressure on it and made it thru RAD, but it started back again when I got home. I use a C-PAP machine when I sleep, but my nose was too stopped up so ... it was a big mess. (I think the cpap machine helps keep my throat moist somewhat at nite) I think I will start using a cool air vaporizer tonite... And my nose has cleared up alittle after my shower.

I will try to keep eating (breakfast is usually soggy bran flakes and yougart or egg and yourgart. Supper is usually cottage cheese and smashed up veggies...some times mashed up meat)

HOpe I can work from home at least one more week but not sure... I use computer and phone. I know it is fixing to get bad as far as mouth and throat being dry and sore ...

But, 1/2 way done!

Hey Mickey,
Friday marked my halfway point also. I have 17 rads and two more chemos left. I have my second chemo scheduled Monday. I dread it so bad. The rads have given me a light burn on the outside of my neck, losing my beard and two large patches of hair on the back of my neck. I have been blessed to not be in pain yet. I am suffering through the mucous though. It is so bad and thick and this point I wake up in the middle of the night and have a gag reflex that causes me to get sick.
I have a PEG and have only used it one time yesterday. I have just gone through every type of soup or stew there is out there and eating has become such a chore. I've lost close to 30lbs already.
My doctor advised that I was at about 10% of the total toxicity the rads would cause......thanks for the honesty.
According to him, now is when the real deal is about to set in.

I'm focusing on making it through next week after the chemo. If I can do that I think I will be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Hope you do well and hope work goes well for you.

I'm not trying to be a downer, but please remember that the hardest time is the 2-4 weeks AFTER tx has ended. We did not know this and were completely unprepared for how bad it got. That's when I became a member and got on the forums. I was scared. Through everyone here I found out what we were going through was normal. That made it easier to keep up the fight. I was able to reassure Kevin that all was normal and to hang in there. It took about 4 weeks. Our last tx was 10/26 and I remember he ate Thanksgiiving dinner with the family. He didn't taste it all correctly, but he ate and that was awesome!
Like I said, not to be a downer, just a realist. Hang in there.
Kathy

Hang in there Mickey and Jamos. Hockey dad ln lynn0814 are right behind you. Please keep eating. I start Cis and rads Monday.

Mickey and Jamos, (I will write this to both of you) now is when things will begin to get more difficult. Unfortunately it will get progressively worse and eating will become more of a bother. You may not have much of an appetite and things wont taste very good. This is when you must begin to really focus on getting that nutrition in and watching your hydration. Every single day you will need a minimum of 2500 calories, 3000 is much better! Your water intake daily must be at least 48 oz.

Jamos, losing 30 pounds is NOT good! That means your body is fighting so hard that it is burning thru too many calories and your intake is way below what it needs to be. You MUST turn this around immediately!

For pain the fentayl patch works the best. Its the strongest pain med out there. The patch is easy as it gets changed every 72 hours and you only need to take meds if you have occassional break thru pain. It will take about 24 hours to kick in when you first put the patch on. Also make sure to adhere to all directions especially no long hot baths or showers, do not ever cut, fold, rip or tear the patch.

Kathy is right about things being worse after treatment has ended. Its pretty hard but it can be done so please do not get yourselves discouraged. The best thing to do is focus your energies on your nutrition and hydration. This is what will make or break you. I cant stress this enough as its happened to me and I ended up being pushed into the hospital in a wheelchair by my son. With just one look from the doctor, I was admitted to the hospital for dehydration and malnutrition. She didnt even have to check my pulse, temp or weight, thats how bad I looked and I felt even worse, like I was dying. I hope to spare you from ever having to go thru this! This was just me, I was one that struggled but then again I didnt have a real caregiver either.

Hang in there!!!

Hang in there Jamos, Mickey AND hockey dad...I too start rad/chemo on Monday and will do my best to EAT and drink what I can when I can. Have to say though really REALLY scared about how this will all play out. Hard to think that your mouth and throat will hurt so bad you can't get soup or water down. I already drink 48-52 ounces of water everyday and hopefully can keep that up. Hard to think I'll need 2500 - 3000 calories a day! That's a huge amount and if it's all liquid I can see how that will be a challenge in itself. I know protein is key in recovery so we have already stocked up on Ensure and Boost and Special K protein drinks. Those are to bad but if you haven't tried the new Ensure "water" Don't! It is awful! Even after mixing it with regular water it taste pretty darn bad. Guess it could in the feeding tube since you don't taste it and it gives you 10 grams of protein. Good luck everyone!

2500 - 3000 calories a day is NOT a huge amount when you are fighting cancer. Your body burns calories at an amazing pace while going thru treatments and trying to recover.

Many days I would take in 6000 calories and never gained an ounce. Think of athletes doing training, they are working out so they burn the calories and need way more than the average person. Special K drinks are for diets and are supposed to be low in calories, right now that is not the best plan. You will want to get the highest calories you can.

Too many times Ive seen members skimp on their intake and wind up suffering. Nobody wants to end up hospitalized or to feel horrible so help yourself to get thru everything by pushing the calories and hydration. I know I am a broken record with this but its hard to imagine how difficult it can be until you are in the middle of treatments and realize you are struggling. Dehydration can sneak up on you very quickly. By sticking to a plan of taking in around 3000 calories and 48 oz of water every single day you should have an easier time of it.

Look, now is the time that consuming calories the fastest is the best approach. Get Boost VHC which has a whopping 560 calories in a small 8 oz can. That means you only have to swallow 5 of those to get 2800 calories. Less swallowing = less pain from swallowing. Also don't forget the water. Both are EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. Failure to keep up every single day WILL lead to more complications on top of plenty that you will have to deal with from the concurrent chemo/rad. I tried to drink 1 can of VHC or 1 can of water on the hour, every hour I was awake. We all hate to be Darth Vader's but almost all of us suffered like we have never suffered before, from appx the 4th week of Tx till the 3rd week post Tx and each week gets progressively worse. You can help yourself by following everyone's experienced advice.

If you buy from Amazon, OCF get a 6% donation from them, which is no cost to you. You have to enter Amazon through OCF's link each time that you purchase (it does not remember that we referred you). Of course this applies to anything that you buy there.

I'm curious....Kevin's mo had his patients come in at least 3x a week for a big bag of fluids. Did/ Does anybody else do this? In doing this he didn't get dehydrated. If he argued about going I would take his bp. If it was down below 110/60, we went in. It worked well.
Kathy