Dear Friends, Yesterday was the second day after chemo and I felt medium nausea..I feel better today ..last day of dex for this round..and I have Stemetil for back up if I'm nauseaous..What should I take for constipation??I've been drinking prune juice..eating cold melon,yogurt,green tea,smoothies...Should I get a Peg put in????I'm starting to reconsider...Gary, the tonsil bleed was caused by the tumor. It couldn't be cauterized,which is why I was in the hospital for 2 days..The blood loss caused my hemoglobin count to drop to 106..but treatments began anyways because I felt OK....Well,I'm back at radiation today # 3...Thank You All!!for your caring and qualified replies!!Your Friend, Tom

Hi Tom,
The good news is the further away you get from the chemo the better you'll feel. I got to a point where I couldn't keep anything down so I used compazine suppositories and they worked ok. Talk to your nutritionist about constipation meds. There is wide range of everything from OTC to prescription. Also things you are consuming now will be painful to consume later on like any kind of fruit or juice.

Your hemoglobin count will drop from the radiation and possibly chemo also. Some chemo does a number on your bone marrow so your WBC may drop as well. Red blood cells get replaced every 120 days so that will return to normal levels eventually.

I don't want to reopen the debate about PEG tubes. Do a search and you'll find out more than you want to know. I personally did not get one, preferring to tough it out. It took a lot of discipline to literally force feed myself, in spite of the tastelessness and pain. I still ended up losing over 60 lbs. The doctors weren't happy with me then. I lived to tell the tale and you can too if you are willing to go the distance with nutrition and water intake. As it was, I still had to be hospitalized twice for rehydration.

Some swear by them and some some swear at them. Although interestingly enough, most who swear at them DIDN'T get them!

You are really early in treatment. The worst of it is yet to come. My side effects tanked out around 3-4 weeks POST Tx. You need to prepare emotionally for this. Roll with it, stay on top of the side effects and you'll get through this!

Gary, I'm going the same route as you, no PEG, and deal with it as we go on. At least that's what the doctors are suggesting...It will be interesting to see what happens...Thanks for the map and guidance over the mountaintop!!!I'll try to remember to laugh inside now and then...Tom