Hi and welcome to the family. My cancer was very similar to yours, but no lymph node involvement, so surgery for tonsil removal and then radiation for 35 treatments was all I got. Treatment ended day before New Years last year, so I'm approaching my 1 year anniversary.

While I did lose 32 pounds during treatment (and 10 more after treatment) I didn't ever have to use a PEG tube. But, I did pretty much survive on Ensure for at least 5 of the 7 weeks of treament.

Hang in there, treatment and it's side effects are different for all of us, for some it's worse and for others, it's not so bad. I was lucky, and one of the not so bad. Still though, almost a year later food taste is still messed up. Lots of things don't taste anywhere near as good as they did before treatment.

There is one good thing when food tastes bad... you don't eat a lot of it, so keeping the weight off is a lot easier.

You'll do fine, just take it one day at a time.

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