Hello, all. I have been lurking on these boards on and off for about a month now. Decided I'd finally get a screen name and post something.
My Dad, who is 69, was diagnosed with back of the tongue cancer in January. He went through the surgery and the doc was able to get ALL of the cancer out; however, he had to take out one of his lymph nodes, his neck muscle, a vein and a nerve. The cancer had spread to all of these areas. My Dad sailed through the surgery and is now undergoing both chemo (given once a week) and radiation 5 days a week. I believe he is getting 36 radiation treatments....he will be to the halfway mark on Monday, March 25.
Things finally started getting harder for him in the last week. At the doctor appointment, he got in trouble for dropping too much weight too fast. He basically lost a pound a day in a weekly period. My mom and I encourage him to eat (he said it would be a cold day in hell when he got a feeding tube), but he says everything tastes disgusting. He says it's more the taste than pain in his mouth/throat. Well, the doc pressured him to eat or he would have to get a feeding tube. So, he is now drinking Ensure and eating cream of wheat with butter. My Dad started this process at 280, so he isn't a small guy. I am praying he can keep this up and make it through without a tube.

Has anyone made it through this type of treatment without a feeding tube? What did you use as your main form of nutrition/calories?

Also--my Dad tested positive for the HPV virus, which apparently can be dormant for decades. He got the shingles last summer, and to be honest, I think having that lowered immune system also awoke the HPV. Anyways, has anyone here had cancer due to HPV? The doctor told him that was actually good, because cancer from HPV responds better to treatment and has a better prognosis.