Cocoa, you are in the right place to get information and please give us more details about your mom's illness such as the staging, dose of radiation, her age, etc. To me, the radiation did not cause me nausea but the chemo did. The most serious side effects of radiation were mouth and throat sore, extremely hoarse voice and burnt neck. Eating and even swallowing water became difficult for me when I was in the 4th week of the treatment. My treatment lasted 7 weeks.I did not have any feeding tube and lost about 16 lbs. I totally agree with some posters saying that the emotional disturbance was more difficult to cope with.I was severely depressed when treatment was over. Your mom needs family support and care the most now and if she is a strong lady, I think she can surpass all hurdles in front. By the way, Shelley, don't question whether you had made the right decision for not having the PEG because some members here lost more than 50lbs even with the tube on. As long as your husband is doing fine now, I think the decision was right.The simple thing is some patients do need the tube for survival and some don't. Just add my two cents worth.

Karen