Welcome to OCF, JujLow! Congrats on completing rads!!! Im sure you have endured many challenges to get to the finish line. The Recovery phase can be a long frustrating one! As patients, nobody can ever recover at the pace or faster than they think they should. The younger someone is the quicker the will bounce back. Of course, theres exception to everything and everyone is different so results may vary.
Being 6 weeks post rads, you still have a long way to go in your recovery but the worst is behind you. Rads is progressive and will continue working well after the treatments have ended. My doc said it was one month of recovery for every week of rads. But many, myself included found recovery to be a long road with ups and downs. It takes OC patients 2 years to completely recover after rads. Anyone who has lost weight will also contend with strength and muscle loss which is from not taking in enough calories. Thats another major struggle for most patients, relearning to eat after rads. Here in the US for at the very least patients should take in 2500 calories and 48 -64 oz of water every single day of rads and the first year afterwards. If losing weight with those calories then it needs to be increased to 3000 or more depending on someones activity level and metabolism. The more thats lost the harder and longer it will be to recover. With how hard patients bodies are working to eliminate the cancer and rebuild themselves, calories are burned up at a much faster rate than usual. Ask your doc about adding high protein whey powder as protein speeds healing and may help your recovery be a little easier. Focus on getting the most our of every swallow and every single day thru-out the day take small sips of water. Many OC patients will require barium swallow tests to ensure they are swallowing properly. The swallow muscles will begin to very quickly forget how to function together when not being used for even a few days. The worst of everything is in your rearview mirror!
At 6 weeks post rads you will start having more good days than bad and the annoying thick gunky mucus will go away to be replaced with dry mouth phase which last for a very long time (well over a year or more). When tired, sleep and one day you will notice the overwhelming fatigue has slowly disappeared with only an occasional bout here or there. Sounds to me like you are really doing great!!! Keep pushing those daily calories and fluids and the better you do with your intake, the easier swallowing and everything else will be.
Im pretty sure people in different countries eat many different foods but the list still may be somewhat useful to you. Best wishes with everything!!!
List of Easy to Eat FoodsPS... @JujiLow.... Please do not post photos of graph sites or other images on the OCF forum. I have interacted with thousands of OC patients/survivors and caregivers over the years and most do NOT have any problem with their graph sites healing. For the OC patients who have a graph from surgery prior to doing rads dont have any recovery problems (except for thinking its taking much too long).
[email protected] had both graph sits taken from my legs and my arm. Im right handed and the graph was taken from my right arm. Both areas hurt for a while and both healed so there is no pain at either area years later. Functionality is almost the same as before I had cancer so using the arm really is ok. Thats how most patients in the US have it done. To be perfectly honest, in the whole scheme of things appearances do NOT matter! Whats most important is survival and anything else pales in comparison. At least thats how someone who is permanently disfigured from OC sees it! Yes, I frequently go out in public amid the rude stares and do not attempt to cover up my battle scars or bring further attention to myself even though many people already know who I am from my participation in various campaigns.
