Welcome Tom!

I’ll try to answer your questions as best I could. Christine, our administrator, and others, may be on here soon to offer much needed advise better than I could say!

Having HPV cancer, assuming it’s in the oropharynx like mone is a good thing!

The chemoradiation you’re on is very common, pretty much the protocol for except for the slightly harsher 3 bah infusion of cisplatin.

I think you’re doing pretty good, better than myself, so hang there!

As far as the nausea and constipation, are you taking medications for that? I did! There’s nothing wrong with taking meds to get through this’

It usually doesn’t get better, I hate to say? And it may take just as long to partially recover from radiation, Chemo may be out of your body sooner, but it can have its own side effects like hearing loss, vision, kidney function, so tell your doctor at the first sign of difficulty. They’ll take your blood count every week so certain things are monitored that way. Drink plenty of water to help eliminate the waste.

Everyone is different, so you may not suffer long term side effects. It depends on many factors such as you health, age, type of chemo, radiation, how long, dosage, etc. everyone is different, and I never expected to be knock out from one week induction chemo! They may have you see a speech and swallow therapost who are great with the different exercises for swallowing.

Be careful switching insurance right now. I recently was dropped from Medicare supplement plan, and had no coverage for two months! Doing Protons, which I did, is doubtful right now as you already began radiation. The can’t stop! I know you mentioned having off since the machine was out, but anything longer is detrimental, as the tumor may grow on the radiation cycle.

I hope this helps!