Gordon,
I finished IMRT on March 19th and while it was pretty miserable at the time and afterwards for about 6 weeks, I am happy to report that I am doing really well now. Food tastes normal again, I am eating well, good appetite, fatigue is much less. I did a 7 hr DJ gig last Saturday and am doing a live music one (I also play bass) next Saturday. So life is resuming back to normal. I have no trouble swallowing and except for an occasional episode with thrush and ongoing dry mouth - that's IT!

Like you, I knew too much so I asked for Zanax and it really helped (it melts in your mind, not your mouth ;-)

My chemo regime was a little different, I "only" had 2 Cisplatin treatments, 1 the first day of radiation and the second on week 3. It was one tough hombre -very humbling. I really can't tell you which was worse - the chemo or the radiation. I reacted poorly to the chemo for a long time.

You can get through this. It's not the most pleasant experience but most of the nastier side effects can be mitigated with medications. I did rely heavily on opioid pain management (Fentynal patches [Duragesic] and morphine tablets (they were much smaller and easier to swallow than Vicodin) for "breakthrough" pain - usually while eating. I had a few courses of antibiotics for various minor infections and still take Diflucan.

I didn't even get a PEG tube.

There are some real horror stories on the net, but honestly, not all of us have that experience.

You ARE extremely lucky (I like to say blessed) that you got through the chemo so smoothly - I didn't. You are also very blessed to qualify for IMRT. I am positive that it mitigated a lot of the side effects and shortened my recovery considerably. In my case, it was the radiation that saved my life. The chemo was an adjunct.

I didn't have surgery either, as the tumor was well contained and there was no metastesis or lymph node involvement, in spite of the size of it (6cm x 3cm by time treatment commenced).

It's 140 days for me today since my last rad treatment and I'm feeling pretty good, have gained 10 lbs and am enjoying life again. You will too.

You must learn to pace yourself however or you will have setbacks. A compromised immune system is nothing to fool with.

It's not about dealing with 7 weeks of this or years of that - it's about dealing with it ONE DAY AT A TIME! You can get through this - one day at a time. If you don't stay in the "now", you WILL drive yourself crazy.

It sounds also like you are a person of faith, let go and let God. Be in prayer about ALL things. He answered so many of my prayers dealing my treatment. I burned my own CD of some thumpin' Gospel music and listened to it every day during treatment and it really helped me (even if I drove the techs nuts). Made the time go by faster too and gave me something other than my "magical magnifying mind" and my fears to ponder. Most treatment rooms have sound systems. Mine even had a Lava lamp!