Hi Lea

Great attitude with the countdown. Just wait till you can start counting in days and when you get to single figures it is even better.

Regarding side effects: the trouble with chemoradiation, is that it is difficult to figure out which is causing the trouble. We immediately leap to radiation as the culprit. We naturally associate nausea with chemo but forget that it could also be responsible for taste disturbances, stringy mucous, and swallowing issues - especially during the first couple of weeks. Even the radiation caused ulcers that your dad will likely get can be also be be made worse with chemo drugs.

Don't forget that the upside is that chemoradiation has been proved to improve your Dad's chances which is why the doctors are putting him through this misery.

Which treatment is causing which side effect probably doesn't matter at the end of the day - except that you can be reassured that if it is chemo affecting him, then his side effects at this point are not so surprising.

For Alex who had 3 different types of chemo only for the first part of treatment, thick stringy mucous started at day 5 and smell disturbance started day 6. Taste disturbance was almost immediate and changed from week to week. Something that tasted ok one day was foul the next and vice versa.

Keep the attitude up Lea, your father is following the path that many have trodden before and his reaction to treatment is not so unusual.