Hi there - and welcome! Sorry you have to be here - but this is great place - with regards to your second question there are other places on the Internet - but most of them are "all cancers" with a few of us around, or not as well organized - this is the best!! In so far as I can see.

Now onto your first question!! As everyone here has said we're all different. I felt okay up to the last few days of rads (30-33) at that point i was not good!!! Mostly just because of the mucositis - there was a lot of discomfort - and I was drooling like a great Dane. Frankly it was GROSS. This continued for the two cumulative weeks post treatment. I did not use my peg (it made me throw up) so for about 7 days I was on oxy. I would take an oxy wait for it to kick in rinse with the magic mouthwash then chug a bottle of ensure! I did this mostly for the first week then I weaned myself off the oxy over a couple days. During this time I watched a lot of really bad reality TV in between naps. I started seeing improvement by week two. Technically I felt good enough to go back to work a month or so later - but didn't because I do tech work for the school board - and am off for the summer.

Chemo wasn't bad to me either. I had the standard nausea for a few days but no real vomiting as I was careful - usually I would take my antiemetic for break through nausea and then down my ensure. I only received 2 rounds because my WBC was low at one point and they couldn't fit it in even though I wanted them to. I was blessed through this whole ordeal in that I didn't suffer as much as most. My neck tanned and peeled (I'm olive skinned) I didn't really blister or burn but I was also very religious about applying my cream.

Food wise. I did mostly ensure from about week 4 - it was a taste issue, I figured eating was not fun or comfortable - so let's make it as quick as possible. I would manage 1600 calories a day and lots of water. I lost 20 lbs. Total. I'm down a bit more now becuse I am eating but not breads or sugars, though I am active. I still take a power smoothie every morning with about 45 gms of protein to kick start my day. I did this through my whole treatment.

Walking and staying active is a good thing as you probably know. I walked my dog twice a day for about 20 minutes. Except for the really bad week. Then I could only manage 1 walk a day ( oxy didn't get rid of my pain just put me to sleep! ) I also went to the gym up to week 4.

However - to add a little perspective - I know a gentleman with OC who lived with his head in a bucket from his first chemo treatment up to a month after his last. He had HPV + BOT cancer with node involvement. He was very sensitive to the cisplatin and lost 60 lbs. He's doing great now though - and I feel good too. I believe I'm 14 weeks out. I can eat most things, though spicy food, and acidic foods are very uncomfortable still, and my sweet taste is still avoiding me! Being in the medical profession, you will likely need to make sure your immune system is back to work before you are, but other than that - hopefully you'll kick it in the pants and move on quickly. Hope this helps!

Good luck. And take care