Hi Tina,

EAT EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING. Even if you are full - chow down those supplementary drinks in-between meals.

My tip to you would be to put on as much weight as possible prior to starting treatment. Do not worry about what to eat - whatever packs the most calories that you can eat is the best food.

Tip: Get yourself a blender (we have one of those magic bullet ones and it is very good) and make your own shakes.

As for sleep - make sure you avoid sleeping on your belly. Apart from that - all the positions should be fine.

Best of luck!

Jay

Lymphatic massage - get permission from your dr. definitely then wait. Personally I would wait until all rads and chemo are done... why? Well frankly I am paranoid maybe. When I first heard about it my concern was, if there is still some microscopic cancer in my head do I really want to encourage the movement of that fluid throughout my body??? So I waited until after rads and chemo were done, my neck had healed (though frankly I had no blistering or redness... mostly I just tanned there) then I started it. After researching recurrence rates related to lyphatic massage. (there was no correlation between lymphatic massage use and increase in recurrence). But as I said I would wait until the chemo and rads have had a chance to do their jobs.

Foods, acidic and irritating foods cause swelling. stick to soft non acidic foods but some that require tongue movement and manipulation. Movement of your tongue should help decrease it. Go for a walk, a few times a day, try yoga, maybe some cardio (went to the gym up to week three.)

Sleep- on the bad side. helps compress the area.

I was exactly like you... went to physio for my shoulder asap, up to about week three of rads, then started again about three weeks after treatment finished.

Now I am at about 98% though I think I slept on it wrong a few days ago so it feels like it used to a few years ago when I had a pulled rotator cuff. :oP

take care!!!

Thanks guys. I am eating solid food, and as much as I can, although I do have to be careful, if I overeat, it makes me sick, so I can't actually overdo it, or I'll lose my lunch.

Can't do the ensure/boost. That's what they fed me through the ng and I threw up for 2 days. Trust me, as bad as the stuff tastes going down, it is way worse coming back up....I can't even smell the stuff now without gagging.

I have the Magic Bullet, and a blender, and a food processor, but I am eating totally normally. Bread is a bit difficult as it sticks to the roof of my mouth, but I still eat it. I'm saving the shakes for when I can't manage solid foods (like the weeks before surgery), as I got pretty bored of the liquid diet. Soup later, chicken now. And gravy.....mmmmm, gravy.

I am all over evey tongue exercise - I have a friend who's a speech path and she's helping me, and have a gym in building that I am slowing building up workouts on.

Sleeping, I flip between the 2 sides, but I will work on staying on the left more.

Tomorrow's the big day for the pathology results....

Sounds like you are doing awesome! Fingers crossed tomorrow is good news... Large margins, and minimal spread or no spread! hugs! And ps... Totally agree on the boost. Make my own protein shake daily. Tres... Delish!