Hi BF

After all the dramas Alex had with his other treatment before radiation, we expected the worst. To our great relief, Alex handled the chemoradiation really well. We were expecting him to feel lousy by about week 3 and start to feel better around 2 weeks after treatment ended. Every day that he came home from week 3 on, we congratulated ourselves on every day that Alex was ok. For him, misery came in the last week and lasted about 2 weeks.

This is all relative of course - he was on hard hitting pain medication (fentanyl patches, oxycodone - short and long acting) which he had learned was mandatory from his induction chemo experience. He also did not have to manage pain with eating as he was totally dependent on a PEG except for water and the occasional cold/room temperature coffee. He was diligent with his bicarbonate of soda mouth washes and antifungal treatment to avoid any infections and minimise the ulcers. We also had a go at Manuka Honey to treat the ulcers but the taste made him nauseous so was abandoned fairly quickly.