I introduced myself at one time but have mostly been a lurker. You can see from my signature a brief synopsis of my plight.

I've already been through hell with my ovarian cancer (beaten all the odds) and then when I found out that the maintenance drug (99.999% certainty) i was on on may be the cause for the H&N ca you can imagine how devastated i was.
Once diagnosed there was a 3 week wait for surgery when one of the tumors tripled+ in size changing surgical plans the morning of. A flap was needed. Great - all the margins were clean just do a little radiation to be certain. Surgeons were confounded because i healed so fast - i was home in a week's time.

However I overexpress epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) so the radiation didn't work. Two more tumors appeared while I was on rad - one on my jaw, one under my chin. I started taxol & Erbitux & radiation but after 10 more rads I had a fever/infection and was hospitalized for over a week. The chin tumor drained some and then plopped into my hands one day- guess something is working. Now I'm back to just chemo - have had 6 taxol & 3 Erbitux and finally I'm seeing some acne and dry skin. Kinda relieved to see the side effects as I gather that it's good to have them.

Still primarily on Scandia and Ensure/Boost w/protein powder mixture. It's been weeks since last rad and my taste buds are still not where I'd like them to be. Pureed cauliflower, turnips, carrots and sour cream are my favorites. Tried some lentil soup last night - too spicy. Looks like ice cream is a ways off.

My jaw has been misaligned since surgery so chewing is out of the question. And can only open mouth about two fingers worth.

So, it's very frustrating but I guess that patience is needed. Thanks for listening.