Well I have started gaining weight since I was taken off of the feeding tube. I found some stuff called Boost VHC (very high calorie). It has 530 calories per 8oz serving and it doesn't taste bad. I add a couple of heaping spoon fulls of Malted milk and a half of a banana to it and blend it. I have one or two a day along with other meals. I would recommend it to anyone who want to put on weight. You can get it online at the Walmart site. I'm still on soft foods. My tongue is still swollen and it's hard to move solids. Also, I find I can't swallow nearly as hard as I used to. I have to wash the food down with a drink of water. The more solid it is, the more often I need the water to wash it down. Has anyone else had this problem? If so I would like to hear suggestions on improving it.

My incisions are healing very well including the donor site. I do still have a lot of swelling on one side of my neck and both sides are hard and numb. It's been a little over a month since surgery and I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever go back to normal size. As for the numbness, the surgeon said it may or may not go away. He told me to massage the swollen area but when I do I get terrible pains in my ear. Just touching that area of my neck will cause the pain, not in my neck, but in my ear..

I had a mask made and start radiation in less than a week. I'll have six weeks of intense radiation because of the one swollen lymph node and because there was cancer in the nerve under my tongue which was removed. I'm finally making progress and fear that a lot of it will be erased because of the radiation. The radiologist said that they aren't going to put me on a feeding tube unless I start losing too much weight. Then, they will only use a nasal tube. They won't give me the PEG tube which I would prefer. From what I have read, people use the feeding tube sometimes for months because of the pain and because of the change in taste.The radiologist and the oncologist said they don't like to use PEG tubes because it's more invasive and because people are more likely to become dependent on them and just quit eating. They said having a tube hanging out of their nose makes people want to go back to eating on their own sooner. I don't like the idea of going out in public for months with a feeding tube hanging out of my nose when there is a good alternative and plan to eat as much and as often as I can no matter what kind of tube I have.. I might have to have a discussion with them.

If anyone has some suggestions on things to do to help minimize the negative effects of radiation I would love to hear them. And thanks to everyone for their support.