Hi D,
Yup, I had all that stuff too -except the pneumonia but had thrush numerous times (and you can substitute "incontinence" with "constipation") and I only had to hospitalized breifly for rehydration a couple of times. What you are describing is "standard treatment misery". Thank goodness it passes. I also had the doctors tell me that my throat was "very red" and that they are "not happy yet" with an area that has been slow to heal in the tonsil connective tissue. But they have said that it doesn't feel like a tumor and is probably scar tissue. It does show up on the MRI.

The word "mass" is a creepy word but the primary medical definition is "A quantity of material, such as cells, that adhere or unite to each other" and nowhere is mass mentioned in the definition with malignancy. Scar tissue readily jumps into this category.

If you have 2 more radiation cycles to go go, you are not out of the woods yet. What you describe though sounds very encouraging. I am really glad that your mom is getting better and moving beyond this.