I am a 50 year old male who has been fortunate to be in very good physical shape (6'4" and 180 lbs) Prior to my diagnosis/surgery, I have been active with both aerobic and anaerobic activities 5x per week.

I have recently been diagnosed with a T1N1M0 (HPV+) on my right tonsil tissue (I had my tonsils taken out as a kid). I had a MND on the right side of my neck in which they took out 18 lymph nodes, with one being positive. I just started today my first of 33 sessions of IGRT at the University of Miami (Sylvester). Due to the size of the source and only one positive lymph noce, the team (who have been excellent to date) are not recommending chemo. The radiation dosages that they are scheduling me for over the next 7 weeks are the following:

right tonsil area - 70 Gray
Left lymph nodes - 54 Gray
Right Lymph nodes - 60 Gray

With my weight at 180 being 6'4", I am concerned about losing to much weight and am going to do whatever it takes to keep my weight up (I am not scheduled for a PEG unless it becomes required)

A couple of questions regarding working out during my radiation treatments. Please accept my apologies in advance if any of my comments/goals are unrealistic or just plain dumb

1) I am planning to do light workout with weights for 30-40 minutes along with 20-30 minutes of light aerobic work on either the treadmill or elliptical machine five days per week. Is there any downside to this type and level of activity (assuming I keep my weight up)

2) Does it make sense to breathe through my nose instead of my mouth during workouts or does it not matter as I am concerned about keeping mucositis at bay?

3) Has anyone had any positive/negative experiences with working out while undergoing RT?

Thanks in advance for your help/suggestions/comments

I may have cancer at this stage, but not for long!


Sincerely - Steve