It's common for most of us to decide early on that we will be the super strong, succeed at any cost, triumph over this by shear force of will kind of patient. And that works great until the really bad side effects start happening. And that's when the experienced road warriors advice starts to have meaning.

I have read time after time, that when it gets the roughest is when we start thinking in shorter time periods. All I have to do today is get through TODAY. I'll worry about tomorrow ... later. Sometimes it gets down to I just need to get through the next hour.

If it reaches that level, don't feel bad, don't think of yourself as a weakling or a wuss, you're just going through your initiation into the road warriors.

Hang in there, you'll get through this too.

Tony

Tony, 69, non-smoker, aerobatics pilot, bridge player/teacher, avid dancer (ballroom, latin, swing, country)

09/13 SCC, HPV 16, tonsillectomy, T2N0.
11/13 start rads, no chemo
12/13 taste gone, dry mouth,
02/14 hair slowly returning
05/14 taste the same, dry sinuses, irrigation helps.
01/15 food taste about 60% returned, dry sinuses are worse in winter.
12/20 no more sinus problems, taste pretty good