Hi John, I wasn't the patient, my brother was. I was good at being a support person, but I KNOW I couldn't have withstood the radiation treatment if it had been me.

From my perspective he had a terrible time, but probably no worse than most on the forum. I spoke to him 2-3 times a day, and he would often say he felt he had been massively assaulted,and that he was separated from everyone else, that no-one could truly understand the brutality of the treatment (on top of the normal distress of a cancer diagnosis). I certainly agreed with that, and tried to get him onto the forum where people DID understand, to no avail. He truly felt "struck down".

And now he's seven months out and doing great, with only the lingering annoyance of a dry mouth.

I'd concur with Christine's suggestion about hydration and drink at least 2 litres of water a day - this was critical to my brother's recovery as he also had a kidney condition; try to go for a walk everyday, and consider klo's suggestion seeing about some medication.

John, dear, you will get there. Make your reference point for improvement what you were like yesterday or last week not what you were like before treatment.