Carol its a tough time, 3 weeks post rads is about as bad as it gets. Every journey is slightly different, but it should start to improve soon. As Christine says it takes a long time. Sometimes it feels you're not getting any improvement at all. It takes months not days or weeks. Don't be demoralised by that, just hunker down for a long haul and accept that a slow recovery is entirely normal.

Keep the machine working and it will repair itself. Keep the nutrition and hydration up, manage the symptoms, particularly pain. Pain interferes with healing and sleep. Pain meds can interfere with bowel function so keep on top of constipation. Keep in regular contact with a good doctor to monitor and manage changes in symptoms. Often its good to go to the doctor with a bunch of symptoms and leave relieved to hear that everything is within expected norms.

The most important thing is nutrition. A lot of people think they can afford to lose a few pounds and they'll pick it back up later. It doesn't work that way. Keep the intake up the whole time, otherwise it will make the recovery even longer.

Lastly be kind to yourself Carol. It is very easy to blame yourself or be frustrated he is not eating or doing what he should. This is also entirely normal, just recognise you are doing your best and you are getting through it. Look back and you'll realise you've already done an amazing job to get to this point.