Hi Sean:
First, I want to thank you for your service for our country.

It's very important to remember that everyone has different experiences. Some have a lot of difficulty with treatment, and some, like myself, have very little trouble. Radiatin and chemo treatments have improved. There are much better nausea and pain medications, and the radiation equipment does a much better job of targeting the tumor and avoiding healthy areas.

It's not a process anyone wants to go through, but you can do it. The first 2 weeks will symptom free, but after that you will probably start feeling the effects of the radiation. You will lose your taste buds and may feel a tremendous fatigue. Most people sleep quite a lot during this period.

Some additional words of advice. Eat, Eat, Eat!!! Eat now because for a while you may lose your appetite and definitely lose your taste buds. It's important to maintain a stable weight throughout treatment, and it also helps with recovery.

You eventually may want to switch to a liquid diet. Some ideas are Ensure and Carnation Instant Breakfast. I'm sure you doctor also have prescription nutrition. Also, you have a PEG, I suggest using that as a last resort. It's important that you keep exercising your swallowing muscles.

Ringing in your ears and hearing loss is an issue for Cisplatin so watch for problems. But Cisplatin is also very hard on the kidneys so drinks lots, lots of water to help flush it through your system.

As your teatment progress, please keep us posted and ask any questions you may have. Good Luck and God Bless.