We had our first appointment with the radiation oncologist on Wednesday last week. It was interesting, as he did not paint as bleak & horrible a picture as the surgical oncologist did. He is calling it stage 1, where the surgical oncologist said stage 2.

He does NOT recommend a preemptive feeding tube for those only receiving radiation, like my mom. 70% of those patients end up not needing it, as opposed to those receiving radiation *and* chemo where only 10% of patients end up not needing it.

She had her dentistry appt yesterday, and has to have a deep cleaning AND 4 teeth pulled before starting radiation. Ugh. Can she have *fewer* painful things, please??

Today, she had a PET scan, as the radiation onc felt "something tiny which is probably nothing" in her neck. He wants to confirm there is no lymph node involvement, as there was none on her most recent CT.

So, there are still a couple of weeks before she can start any real treatment.

In the meantime, she's got a new mattress in my guest room because she's going to need the best rest she can get, and I have a warm mist humidifier on it's way.

I asked the radiation oncologist about the best moisturizer to use right after each treatment... he said Eucerin or Aquaphor. "The cheap ones from Walgreens", he said. Do any of you have a more preferred brand? He didn't seem too concerned about what type of moisturizer she uses. I've had better luck with Aveeno on my dry winter skin.

I asked about the items you all recommended. He had never heard of saline soaks, and was worried that the salt would be more drying... Re: Amifostine, he said that more recent research has shown that it while it does protect healthy cells, it may also be protecting the cancer cells from the radiation and so no one at Loyola recommends it.

Again, thank you all for listening.