Martine,

Welcome and I'll pray that you do well on Monday. I am active duty military too, E8 USAF. And many times I have raved about Tricare and our Drs. I was treated at Wilford Hall in San Antonio TX. And am cancer free today because of their skills and support of my family and the Air Force. As you can see from my signature I had some of the same treatments you are going to have.

After you start the radiation (RT) and chemo (CT) things will seem OK at first but then they will get tough, keep in mind everyone is different. I lost taste after 2 weeks of RT, then got sores, dry mouth, nausea etc...things got real bad around week 5. Around 3 weeks post treatment things started to turn better. I had a PEG too and used it mainly for my meds and a little liquid food. But someone that wants to be an iron man will get through it. And since your in great shape that will help a lot too.

There are numerous posts about the effects RT/CT, I suggest you hit one of the searches at the bottom. There was a very detailed post about the treatment side effects from a a member named DavidCPA, if I can find it I'll put it on here.

It's best if you just ask your specific questions and you will be amzed at the support you will get here. I've also been through the militaries MEB/PEB process so if you have questions about that too, I can let you know what my experiences were.

Take care and you are in my prayers.

Tim