Welcome to the forum, nevertheless, I'm so sorry that you have to join our circle of friends.

The time span between diagnosis and the start of treatment does seem long, but there are so many things that have to be done that the time is actually necessary. I'm in Toronto, Canada; here, the government's expectation is for patients to start treatment within six weeks of the diagnosis. In the U.S., the protocol seems to be similar to me.

The best thing you can do for yourself right now is to find out if your hospital provides other services such as a nutritionist/dietitian, speech therapist and even psychotherapy. It helps to have all that information beforehand because if you need any of these specialists in the middle of treatment, you will know how to access them. It will also help for you to stop, take a breath and read all of the information pamphlets that your doctors may be giving to you, for example the ones on chemo brain, how to deal with skin breakdown during radiation, etc. there are tons of these around. They are factual and they have suggestions which you can follow. That will help you focus on your treatment and gain a measure of control over your illness. While we all fear cancer, fear doesn't help you deal with what you have to face when under treatment. If you have been given swallowing exercises, please learn to do these and maybe even start doing them so you get into the habit of doing them every day during treatment. These exercises are really helpful for keeping the swallowing muscles working so that they don't atrophy.

Do go out and eat all your favorite foods now. Don't worry about putting on weight as you are bound to lose weight during treatment. There will be taste changes so that for a while nothing will taste as they should. So, do that now.

Don't be angry with yourself. It's not going to help you deal with the disease. If you can at all, change your focus -- dealing with it so that you will have an easier time getting through radiation and chemo. Don't dwell on what you can't change.

I'm sure ChristineB will be by soon to talk to you about intake, so I will leave it to her. Do post again to let us know how you're getting on. There are members who are quite knowledgeable and they can be good support for you.