Our many thanks go to the kind folks we have heard from on this board. You continue to be a blessing and an inspiration.

I thought I'd give a brief report. This marks the end of our first week of radiation treatments. Five down and about thirty more to go. Also, this week we've got the third Erbitux treatment. Those are the big milestones.

As far as symptoms are concerned, I can report the following. First, Pat has seen the Erbitux rash since shortly after her second treatment. Now, with the third treatment we are seeing the rash mostly around her mouth and on the lower chin area. We saw the med-onc today and he ordered Elidel 1% cream and Doxycycline 100mg x two daily. He said these antibiotics would help with the rash.

When Pat gets her Erbitux infusions they give her Zofran via her IV and this is followed by Benedryl via IV. These pre-meds take about forty minutes. Once these are administered the Erbitux infusion is started which lasts for an hour. Following the Erbitux they watch her for an hour. This regimen was decided upon since Pat had so much trouble with the first infusion of Erbitux (which put her in the hospital for four days).

Each day for her radiation treatment she takes compazine an hour prior to the Amifostine injections with lots and lots of water. (They give her two shots and thus split the dosage - they say this is better tolerated.) So far we haven't seen any significant blood pressure drops or nausea associated with the Amifostine.

Each radiation treatment delivers 2.11 gy and the total treatment will be 70 gy. One thing we've noticed is that Pat is getting more tired each day. Prior to cancer, it was inconceivable that Pat would ever slow down enough to take a nap. Now it's become a daily occurence. Also, Pat has starting talking about her saliva becoming kind of "gummy". Her mouth is becoming dry and she's thirsty quite often. Also she says her mouth tastes "chalky". I know from reading here on this board as well as the other research I've done that all of these side effects are to be expected.

So, we've got the weekend to try to recharge the batteries in preparation for next week. I'm expecting that within the next couple of weeks we'll see considerably more side effects from the radiation and I'll have to feed Pat through her peg tube.

Speaking of peg tube feeding. We talked to our insurance company (Aetna) about having them cover liquid nutrition. After at least forty minutes on the phone we were told that"pre-authorization" was not required if the liquid nutrition was being self administered. (If the liquid nutrition was administered by home health personnel or as an in-patient in a hospital it would require pre-authorization.) Anyway, this was good news since we were told all we needed was a doctor's Rx and they would pay. We'll have to see of this is true. I'll let you know once we try this approach.

We've asked the med-onc for a Rx for the Carnation VHC as well as a Rx for the Jevity 1.5. This way we'll have both covered. We wouldn't have known about the Carnation VHC except for this message board and the med-onc seemed to think that the large calorie count of the Carnation was what Pat should be using. Our local CVS pharmacy can order it for around thirty bucks a case - a considerable savings to us since Aetna will pay for it.

As I'm sure so many of you know, it's hard to see the one you love so much have to endure the "treatment" for H&N cancer. Somehow, the term "treatment" sounds almost benign except when you come face to face with what the actual "treatment" really entails and you know it is anything but benign.

This awful disease only serves to draw Pat and I closer and we continue to give thanks each day for our many blessings. We'll continue to trust the Lord - no matter what.