Gary, you are right, here it is two days past my last day of radiation and I feel the worst ever. In fact, I just decided to up my drugs and spend the weekend sleeping. I told my boss I would be back at work after two weeks but guess that will not happen!

I had a lot of nausea, I found that the first drug they gave me did not work at all, then they gave me a more expensive one that is only for cancer patients and it worked great.
Melissa

Melissa,
you young kids have such optomism - I love it - hold onto that thought!

The conventional wisdom however, dictates one month of recovery for every week of radiation. I fought it (and was in good health going into it) but found that the foregoing formula was pretty accurate.

We all respond differently to treatment and a relative few here have gone back to work early (and some wishing they hadn't). There are many variables involved, including, but not limited to, your immune system status (you are at great risk in the early post Tx, from colds and viruses that can quickly morph to pneumonia which can be life threatening), secondary infection issues, thrush, pain levels/meds, eating, drinking, swallowing and even speaking, not to mention emotional, like depression, etc.

It's very hard to predict and it's better to roll with it than set unreasonable expectations for yourself that will ultimately frustrate you and make you feel worse about an already bad situation.

Melissa
I did not miss a day of work. I have a desk job and I left early about 2PM every day for my treatment and I was tired. But to my surprise I did not miss any work through my radiation only treatments. I also noticed even though I was tired I felt better than on weekends laying around I seem to feel the pain more.

I was diagnosed with stage two scc in my left tonsil on 2-8-06. I had surgery to remove the tumor and my tonsils in March, followed by 35 IMRT treatments. I did not have a PEG tube.

There was quite a bit of nausea from both the radiation and from the pain meds. I experienced a couple of yeast infections during treatment. I lost about 1/3 of my body weight due to the inability to eat. I had very little energy during the treatments.

That being said, the worst part was probably the yeast infections. They were very painful.

Hunger was almost as bad as the pain. I was not offered a PEG. If you have not been offered one, inquire. There is no way I would have tried to go without it, if I had know how bad it was.

I started back to work in October but took most of November and December off.

I am now working full time at my day job and teaching at a university at night. I am able to eat most things (but I don't really like to eat now) but there is not much taste to most foods.

I still have a lot of difficulty sleeping due to the dry mouth, but I do manage to get in a nap here in there.

Bottom line is I am beating the cancer, it is not beating me. We are survivors!

Keep your chin up and fight harder than you have ever fought before!

Hi David-
I just asked the doctor and it turns out I had IMRT not XRT. So maybe that makes a difference in talking about how my experience was compared to yours. One thing I noticed when I joined this board is that everyone is very informed about their cancer and I needed to learn more about mine. I always assumed I had XRT becuase there was another room that said "IMRT" and I didn't go in that room.
It's about 1 week now since the treatments stopped and I am exactly the same. The doctor said it would be 10 days to 2 weeks to see any improvement. So I guess that is something to be prepared for(I believe everyone told me this but I just didn't get it), don't go telling your boss you will be back at work in two weeks like I did
At least I have the pain under control now with 2 fentanyl patches and then the fentanyl lollipops before each meal. That makes it so I can get down enough food and water. Then in between I feel ok. Watching alot of TV and browsing the internet. From the neck down there is nothing wrong with me!
Melissa

Melissa,

Week 3 post rad was the turning point for me. I stepped out of that damn tunnel for good. I saw a positive difference in the way I felt and my eating habits. I started to drink and eat 3000 cals a day. My energy slowly returned but some days I would wake up just as tired as before my energy came back so don't worry if it happens to you. It happens to all of us for a few months.

I am now almost 6 months post and I am almost back to pre Tx. Taste = 8 out of 10 and dry mouth = 7 out of a normal 10. It seems like this journey has taken forever though.

Thanks David. I feel like every day I get up and expect to be at least a little better but I'm not which is frustrating. But I guess it has only been a week. I have heard alot of people say 3 was the turning point. I eat about 1700 calories a day which is enough to maintain my weight. I didn't lose that much during radiation plus I had "baby weight" to begin with so I'm actually at a healthy weight now. Was it hard to go back to eating solids? I've been on liquids only for the past 6 weeks becuase of my tongue ulcer and then the sore throat. I'm hoping once my mouth feels better I can jump back into eating real food, even if it tastes like nothing.
Melissa

Melissa,

Baby weight at 32? Hummm, you must have some good drugs. LOL

You may want to talk to your docs re increasing your caloric intake. Your body is seriously trying to heal itself and it needs more nutrition and calories to help that process. Mine wanted me to exceed 3000 balanced cals a day for a month and I did my best. I didn't gain any weight either.

Most of us not on feeding tubes are away from solids at least 6 weeks. Six weeks was the same for me. I was really determined to eat solids ASA I could. I started with mashed potatoes; then fruit cocktail; then mac n cheese; then canned weiners and spagetti (you can see how determined I was). Everything was small portions. I really didn't enjoy anything other than the fact that I was eating solids again but that soon wears off. Since your taste is crappy you really have to force feed yourself. Order kids meals for the next 3 months or so. I found sweets, like pancakes, french toast, etc with plenty of surup easier to get down.

Don't set unrealistic goals and you won't be disappointed. Your body has been put though hell in 6 short weeks and it will take time to heal itself. Don't expect every day to be better than the day before...it won't. Don't even expect each week to be better. Think in terms of months. I felt after 4 months I could post my progress, then I posted after 5 months because I had improved. Now after 6 months, I'm about the same as 5 months so I won't be posting. You'll see what I'm talking about as time passes.

Hang in there, it will get better.