 Senior Patient Advocate Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 8,311 | EllEll and others,
Look the thing about our S L O W recovery is that it is S L O W but and there always is a but, do not think early on that this is the way you will be for the rest of your life. It's frustrating for sure but for the ones of us "lucky" enough to just get the chemo/rad we do recovery a great deal of our pre Tx saliva and taste and the joy of eating will return. For me, it wasn't until my 15th month post Tx that I had a bust of improvement that left me satisfied that if I didn't recovery anymore I could live with it (like I had any choice, but you know what I mean). I saw another slight improvement at 24 months and nothing since. I estimate I'm back to 90% of pre Tx levels. Even at my estimated 90% I can tell that my taste is not as sharp and still drops off the more bites I take and I still do get dry at certain times but please just try and give yourself a good 2 years to recover.
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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