Welcome to OCF! Im very glad you have found this site to help you. We can offer you lots of factual info and moral support.
First, everyone is different. Some will sail right thru with relatively few problems while others will struggle from day one. I was one of the strugglers. I stopped driving after about the first week as I was taking pain meds and had a long commute and didnt trust myself to be safe on the highways.
Seek out friends and family who offer their help. Write down every single person's name and number and tell them you will let them know what they can do when the time comes. The time may come where your wife needs a hand, even to pick up prescriptions from the pharmacy or cook dinner. Caregivers often forget to take care of themselves and can also get run down so it might be helpful for someone to get her out of the house for a couple hours. Battling cancer is not the time to worry about being proud, many people want to help but dont know what to do.
Nutrition will play a huge role in how easily you get thru this. Right now....eat!!!! Have all your favorites and dont worry about calories. Going thru treatments you must get a minimum of 2500 calories and 48 oz of water every single day. Dont think you can skimp and make it up the next day, it wont happen. That will put you on a fast track to becoming dehydrated, malnourished and you will wind up in the hospital feeling awful. I am not trying to scare you, just making sure you understand how important this is. If you can get more in thats even better, it will help you have an easier time of it. There are many items that will help you like ensure and boost. Swallowing every single day is also imperative.
The place you are being treated can make all the difference in the world. If you have not sought out a second opinion you really should. A large cancer center is where you want to be treated. This is even more important than nutrition. Oral cancer is not always one of the more well known cancers. A large cancer center will have a team that will meet and discuss your individual case and work together to get you thru the specific NCI guidelines.
Cancer Centers Best wishes with everything!
