Good for both of you. I suppose if there is a good thing about radiation it is that you sink slowly so it gives you time to get used to it and learn how to cope. With any luck, by the time your husband starts to feel really bad, you will be on the countdown with more treatments under your belt than treatments to go. Alex and I were almost excited when we got to "10 to go" and then "5 to go" and then "last day"

Cisplatin is nasty but effective and Alex had a hard time with it. However, he had more cisplatin than most others, and by the time we got to radiation, he had already had 4 cycles with induction chemo. With induction it was 4 or 5 days before he really felt like crap and then a week of crap and then a week of feeling better.

During radiation, he had weekly doses of cisplatin and was either used to the side effects or they were not as severe as before due to the different dosing. He was one of those people who took one step at a time and almost looked forward to the daily trip to hospital, knowing he was "nuking" the cancer. He said he felt he was doing something active to fight it. He equated every new blister/ulcer with a battle and the worse he felt the more he thought it must be working. It got him through a tough time.

Our "chemo day" was a full day as it took hours to put through all the bits that go with cisplatin (steroids, anti-nausea, hydration etc). Even that became a challenge with Alex, who was determined to spend as little time hooked up as possible. By understanding the pump, and preventing the inevitable blockages (alarms go off if you kink your tubes), giving the nurses a 5 minute warning when bags were about to empty, and keeping track of his own fluid input and output he managed to be in and out in the fastest possible time. It gave him something keep him occupied.

Memory is a funny thing. I know looking back at my notes, Alex had a terrible time of it, yet now, we both think it wasn't so bad. Like childbirth I suppose ....