I had 4 weeks of relatively light chemo, cisplatin and taxil that ran concurrently with 6 weeks of radiation. Doing the chemo is really no problem. It made me feel a little tired and weird a couple of times, but once it was over, it was over. The radiaiton treatments, which, in my case ceased 3 weeks ago, continue to affect me, and I guess, will do so in many ways for the rest of my life. Although the concomitant chemo and radiation is still considered somewhat experimental in throat cancer ( I had to convince my ins. company to pay for the chemo. ) studies show that along with the radiation the chemo often helps shrink the tumors. Therefore I can see no downside of adding the chemo. I did not even lose my hair.
The only debate, I think, is for those people who have a choice of whether or not to undergo radiation. In my case , with a base of tongue tumor and nodes considered stage IV, surgery was not feasible and my only choice was to have the radiation...whether or not the chemo came along. I repeat...adding a little chemo was no big deal as the effects are not long lasting. Radiation, on the other hand is a bitch....necessary, but a bitch!
Dan G.