Hi Maureen

It sounds very much to me as if your father thinks radiation might be easier than chemo? Or maybe he has some aversion to something associated with chemo(resistance to taking drugs? fear of needles? unwillingness to sit in hospital connected to an IV?)?

Neither chemo nor radiation are any fun and having watched Alex go through both, I would suggest they are equal in their lack of fun.

Your Dad might be starting to realise that radiation is no picnic and decide that if he has come this far he might as well do the chemo too - especially if as Kelly211 says, it increases his chances of survival.

I am sure his doctors are giving him a bit of space and waiting for him to get used to the idea of chemo. I am betting they will be in his ear every day advising him to add the chemo boost.

With regard to your other question about how chemo is administered, all are administered via IV which means he will have to spend more time at the head and neck unit on "chemo" days. The type of chemo will dictate the amount of time with cisplatin taking the longest and others being a bit shorter. My Alex had low dose cisplatin once per week instead of once every 3 weeks. This was done to minimise or avoid side effects while maintaining the same effect. We arrived at the hospital at 8.30am got out about 2 or 3pm on "chemo" day to go down to radiation. It didn't actually take that long to administer the cisplatin, it was all the other stuff that went with it - anti nauseants, hydration, waiting between bags of goop etc which are also administered via IV. You get the IV needle inserted at the beginning of the day (so only one needle) and this connects via a tube to all the bags of medicine which are administered one at a time through that one tube. Some chemos do not take as long, but the procedure is the same.

If your Dad chooses the chemo boost, he will likely only get one sort of chemo so it is not as bad as the full triple therapy that constitutes true chemotherapy.

Think of the boost of chemo as adding a stock cube or a dash of your favourite sauce to your stew to boost or improve the flavour ...