 Senior Patient Advocate Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 8,311 | It may range from mild to severe depending on a host of factors including the targeted path of the radiation, the type of radiation and his personal reaction to the particular chemo(s) and the radiation. Those are things he can not control. Maintaining sufficient daily hydration and caloric intake is extremely important to how he will fare and that is something he can control.
He will lose his taste and his saliva production will most likely be severely compromised. These will recover but how much so is not guaranteed.
The inside of his mouth may blister and the outside of his skin where the radiation goes in may also blister. He may lose the hair on the back of his neck and his whiskers may fall out. The hair will return and the whiskers probably not, at least in the direct radiation path.
The chemo may cause nausea, concentration problems and both may cause total body weakness.
IMO about 10% of us get by real easy; 10% get hit really hard and the rest of us have the same rough time which in the grand scheme of things only last about 7 weeks or so ( from the 4th week of Tx until the 3rd week post Tx) and the weeks following the end of Tx are usually the worst.
David
Age 58 at Dx, HPV16+ SCC, Stage IV BOT+2 nodes, non smoker, casual drinker, exercise nut, Cisplatin x 3 & concurrent IMRT x 35,(70 Gy), no surgery, no Peg, Tx at Moffitt over Aug 06. Jun 07, back to riding my bike 100 miles a wk. Now doing 12 Spin classes and 60 outdoor miles per wk. Nov 13 completed Hilly Century ride for Cancer, 104 miles, 1st Place in my age group. Apr 2014 & 15, Spun for 9 straight hrs to raise $$ for YMCA's Livestrong Program. Certified Spin Instructor Jun 2014.
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