As you are aware from your comments in your own post, there is no correct answer to this. Do very young and seemingly healthy people die from oral cancer, yes. Are they the largest group that form the statistics, no. But no matter what your age, being a stage 3 and particularly a stage 4, you have the odds stacked against you. Having said that

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the reply. I particularly liked your second paragraph. I am an agnostic and I found your musings about God's hand in the whole scheme of things quite entertaining!

I am trying hard to be gently supportive and not obnoxiously overbearing. Actually, I think Heather has tolerated me quite well so far in this ordeal. I sometimes have to bite my tongue, but I'm getting better at keeping any non-productive advice to myself, i.e. the "eat your veggies" advice.

Heather is feeling better today. She didn't get sick after her treatment, but she also didn't get the amifostine injection. She's going to wait til Monday to start taking it again. If she feels better all weekend, then gets sick Monday, we'll know it's from the amifostine. If she has to discontinue it, we have several $26 a day pills left. Sure hope someone can use them at the treatment center. Too bad you can't get refunds on unused prescriptions! :p

Rosemary

here's a funny comment about eating properly. i lost so much weight from my treatments and surgery, i have been told to eat as much fatty foods as possible. last month i was given the deadline of december 11 to gain 10 pounds. try as i might, so far i only have reached half of that goal. i'm hoping thanksgiving will help me reach the other half.

this has been quite a life change for me because my family has a huge history of heart disease. i have been buying low fat/no cholesterol foods for years. now i'm eating hagen das daily. it's quite an adjustment, but a fun one.

throughout the past few months, i have had the worst diet in the world......but i am eating the foods that i can swallow easiest and which taste the best to me. someday the good foods will come back in, but until then i just rationalize it by saying that i just survived something huge and get to treat myself for a while.

Brian,
How could you know what caused your cancer? I too, was fit, in good health, relatively young, 54,neither a borrower nor a lender, neither a smoker nor a drinker, and I have no clue what caused my cancer. When people ask me, I look at them sort of like it is a dumb question, but perhaps not.

Danny G.

Jeanette.

Thanks for the comments. It sure helped me to put the whole "eating well" issue in perspective. Heather won't have to worry about me pushing veggies on her for awhile!

Actually, we were told prior to the start of her RAD that she should eat everything she wanted to pack on some pounds. She was told to not worry about eating the second slice of chocolate cake, just eat the whole cake! It certainly is strange to hear that coming from a nurse or doctor. Esp. since she is a little overweight to begin with. It's also the first time I've heard that being overweight is an advantage.

She was doing okay, but since this stomach flu (or whatever it is) hit, she has lost 6 lbs. (in 1 week!) Her throat is starting to get sore also, so I'm sure the PEG tube will go in soon.

Thanks for the offer to e-mail you directly. Heather isn't connected to the internet right now, though, but perhaps I will take you up on it later if you don't mind.

For putting on weight, have you tried the cheesecake route? I forget who, but someone on the board said they had a 500 calorie slice every day when they were going through their RAD. The Cheesecake Factory stuff from Sam's Club, I think.

Good luck on your weight gain and many thanks,

Rosemary

How is Heather doing these days ? I had infection during the RAD too. As a matter of fact, I had another two infections after the RAD. Now, I am in Hyperbaric Oxygen treatment because my ENY Doc is concerned that hte mandible might get infected. I had nuclear scan on Jan 2 which came back OK, so the osteomyelitis is not an immediate concern now, I will be finishing HOBT end of Jan. All I can tell now is that the HBOT does help healing the tissue damaged by RAD, my throat pain was almost gone by now.

Hi WZ,

Heather finished her RAD Jan. 3rd. It was rough and she was in pretty bad shape, but the pain was starting to ease and her throat was feeling a little better by the 10th. Then over the weekend, she started to feel worse and by Monday the 13th, she was nauseous and couldn't keep anything down.

We also noticed a few white spots in her mouth, so we suspected candida. However, the next day when she saw the doc, the spots were gone and he dismissed the idea of candida. Figured it was stomach flu. (Plus she had just started a new med., which might have contributed to it).He told her she had to eat more. Since she threw everything right back up, that was easier said than done. Anti-nausea meds helped a little, but not enough.

By the weekend the white patches were back, she was still nauseous and her PEG tube area was sore and bleeding. So today we were at the doctors again. This time I had done my homework and was almost positive she had candida. From the symptoms, I think it is in her esophagus.
Anyway, we came home with Diflucan for the candida. Also had the PEG incision cauterized (there was tissue granulation which was causing all the problems).

Hopefully, the Diflucan will clear up the candida and she can get back on the road to recovery. It seems for every step forward, she has to take 2 back. But she has decided against doing the chemo, so the worst of it should be over.

I hope they can get your infections cleared up. Heather only had one during her RAD. And now this candida.

Wishing you a continued recovery,

Rosemary