John,

Read my Signature Line. By Spring I expect to hear great ride stories from you! BTW I'm doing a Century Nov 10.

OK now some advice....

1. Eat everything in sight NOW. Forget FAT, just eat all your favs and I don't care if you eat pizza for breakfast.

2. Get fitted for Fluoride Trays if you haven't already and start using tem every nite.

3. Get a blood draw and record your TSH level pre Tx. Keep that number in a safe place as your Thyroid might get damaged with the rad.

4. Watch out for the Cisplatin and hearing damage. If you hear ANY strange noises coming from your ears like a faint buzzing or "ringing" as some call it tell your MO IMMEDIATELY.

5. All throughout this Tx and at least the 1st year of your recovery consume 2500 - 3000 calories and at least 48 ozs of water EACH and EVERY day. Start today.

6. Use this site 24/7. There are many many things that can and usually do happen to us during this Tx and while it may cause concern it's pretty much NORMAL. You may loose your taste; develop thick mucus; have burns in your throat; get nauseated; loose weight; develop dry mouth; have pain issues, etc. I'm only telling you these things because IF you experience them they are NORMAL. PAIN IN THE ASS, but totally normal so don't be alarmed.

7. Most of us with your presentation and Tx don't usually start to have "problems" until after the 2nd bag of Cis so weeks 4 thru week 3 POST Tx are usually when we hate this Tx. That's only 7 weeks so keep that in mind.

So Gulfcoast is that TX, La, Ms or Fl? Maybe we can ride together some day?