Jennifer, I wish you all the best in your upcoming treatment. The other posters have given you great advice. I would add some kind of serious mouth-numbing agent, I used viscous lidocaine and even that was frankly insufficient. But it was the only way I could remotely tolerate even drinking water, let along the nutrition supplements. My guess is you'll find that even soft foods are too much as you get deeper in. But that's also likely a personal thing.

I got very nauseated toward the end of treatment, and it lasted a solid three months afterward even though I was taking Zofran. And I didn't have chemo. I found eventually that Compazine was the only thing that helped. I'm sure your doctors are advising you on this.

It's hard to speak to the helper question... I too did the whole thing alone even to the point of driving myself across town every day to RT on all but the last 2 days when I didn't trust myself with the Fentanyl patch on to drive. But I've lived alone for years so I'm used to it, and I did speak to friends and family every day on the phone. (until I lost my voice that is, then it was whispering!)

You should very much think of the people here as extended family though. If you ever want to call me I'm always available, just send a PM.

Courage, best wishes, and please keep us posted as you go along. You'll definitely get through this!

David 2