Marv, when do you begin rads? Im sure you have read things here about rads and chemo treatments. Many patients run into difficulties due to their ability to eat and drink being compromised due to mainly sense of taste changes and mouth/throat pain. I'll be honest... its no picnic but it is doable. Focus on what is within your control, take meds to manage any pain and nausea. Most important is to make your intake top priority. Every single day from now thru you hit your first year post rads, your daily minimum needs to be at least 2500 calories and 48-64 oz of water. If you can push yourself and hit 3000 calories and 64 oz water daily that will help to make your experience having rads and chemo as easy as possible.

Theres drivers available who can help get you back and forth to your treatments thru the American Cancer Society's volunteer driver program. Going thru rads/chemo can take alot out of a person. The American Cancer Society (ACS) has volunteers who are former cancer patients or their caregivers to staff the driver program. I used it myself a couple times and couldnt believe the kindness of the people who drove me 45 minutes each way to my appointments. Plus they drove 45 minutes up to pick me up and then another 45 minutes back to their house. I was so impressed at the kindness of strangers that I became a volunteer driver too once I recovered from my own bouts of cancer. I had a favorite client, a little tiny elderly lady who was as sweet as could be even though she was going thru some very difficult times. Even if you have a driver 2 days a week, it helps make things easier for you and anyone you have helping you. It requires some paperwork to set you up with a volunteer driver so if you are interested you may want to give the ACS a call or check out their website. There's also another program the ACS has to help patients with prescription medicine co-pays and/or transportation costs. The ACS will give up to $300 to cancer patients to help cover transportation expenses or co-pays at the pharmacy. I dont know if you need this or not but to me at the time it was a much welcomed break to help me make ends meet a little easier during a rough time for me and my children.

Just always remember, we are here to help you. I understand part of what you are going thru. I was facing very low odds of survival in 2009. As a single mother I was completely devastated constantly worrying what would become of my children if I did not survive. I remember how hard this was to accept and know your situation is not easy to manage either. There should be some professionals at your treatment center that specialize in helping patients to mentally work thru serious medical challenges. It cant hurt to ask about what is offered and go for a couple appointments to see if it works for you. At OCF, we have seen all kinds of different situations and know first hand how difficult oral cancer can be not just to get diagnosed with but to get thru treatments and recovery phases as well. Definitely NOT easy for most of us. Its ok to vent, rant, rave, etc. We're here for you, its ok to lean on us. We have gone thru similar battles ourselves and have some insight as to how mentally difficult this is to handle.

Hang in there!!! Wishing you all the very best with everything. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you.