I had all of my chemo treatments BEFORE I ever started the raditation. In my case the understanding was to prevent distant mets. The fact that it shrank my tumors was an added bonus and a good predictor of the effectiveness of the raditation.

I had amifostine as part of my treatment plan. It was administired via two subcutaneous injections within a short period of time just before the radiation treatment. If I hadn't asked for it, they never would have mentioned it to me. Why? I'm not so sure, but I think the jury is still out regarding the overall efficacy of it. In my case, I only missed 2 out of 30 injections as a result of low blood pressure. Every day prior to each injection they would question me about how much water I had consumed and whether I had taken my anti-nausea medication. Then they would take my blood pressure. If it was too low, no amifostine.

It's too early to tell how effective the amifostine was. I'm not 100% dry, but I don't have as much syliva as before treatment and I usually keep a bottle of water handy. In going out to eat, I always make sure my drink is full prior to eating and I will stop eating if I'm empty and waiting on a refill.

Am I glad I took the injections? Yes, in that I wanted every tool available to help mitigate the side effects of the radition treatment. The injections hurt -- felt like a charley-horse in each arm. And there was always some nausea, but I'm pretty sure it was "white coat syndrom" because I was always nauseated before the injections. One of the good things about taking the injections was it put me on the clock with regard to the radiation machine. They only had a short time window in which to treat me, which kept the waiting in line to a minimum. Even if the stuff doesn't work, at least I took my best shot.

-Brett