I totally agree with Brian that both the cancer patients and their caregivers should be more realistic about their illness and the effects brought about by the treatment. We are fighting a life threatening illness and not a flu. It certainly takes a very long time, not a matter of days or weeks to recover ourselves and to expect ourselves to return to normal within a certain period of time can be rather naive.It took me more than a year to gain back the weight I lost during treatment( in fact I didn't lose as much weight as some of you did here). Other side effects like numbness, mouth sore, dry mouth.. are still with me.What we can do is apart from getting appropriate professional advice, we should not impose further stress on ourselves.

Karen stage 4 tonsil cancer diagnosed in 9/01.