OK, it's been a week or so since I finished (this is day 10 post treatment). I'll tell you what, the whole "it gets worse after treatment stops" mantra that people stress here is no joke. By far the worst week for throat issues that I have experienced.

Finished treatment on Thursday 11/07. Saturday I woke up not able to swallow anything on the thin liquid scale (water, juice, etc.). What would happen is, part of the sip of water would get caught at the back of the throat and induce choking. It felt like I was water-boarding myself with each swallow. It became impossible to take in any appreciable amount of fluid to keep hydrated. I could still eat my mushy cereal but that was about it. By Monday morning I knew I was pretty dehydrated and could end up in a serious pickle if i didn't act soon.

Thankfully due to the brilliant veterans that post here I have read a number of times about utilizing the cancer infusion center for IV hydration. I would never have known about this on my own. So I called the hotline Monday morning around 10am and was in the center by 11am getting 2L of IV. Amazing people there. I had lost six pounds in water weight alone. Basically I went in three times last week and through that was able to get through the worst of it.

Woke up yesterday and ran some errands and then came home and napped when I woke I seriously felt I had turned a corner. I ate like a horse (well a horse that had seven weeks of treatment) and drank more water in one day than I had in two weeks. Hoping this pace of improvement keeps up.

My neck is basically 90%+ healed. Yesterday was the first day I have worn a t-shirt in weeks. I'm sure I'll be applying lotion multiple times a day for weeks but that's a minor inconvenience.

My main goals now are increasing the variety and nutritional value of the foods I eat (canned chicken soup only gets you so far) and building my strength up. Feeling that the worst is over and lucky because of it.

Stay strong everyone,

-Rich