Barry's through with Ethyol now -- he took his last shot Thursday and it made him sick (his post-chemo day), so it is over. Three more treatments -- yes, it should have been TWO more treatment but the tomo machine shut down half-way through his scan Friday and though they worked on it for hours, we all finally threw in the towel and went home. I joked and said they needed to use more duct tape, and the technician said -- don't laugh...!

However the end is in sight, and hopefully the Ethyol has helped -- he does have pretty good saliva still though definitely thicker and more "bubbly." The Ethyol was *by far* the most difficult part of a difficult treatment for Barry, mainly because of the need to swig those 24 oz. of water in 90 minutes, which got very hard as his throat became more sore and he seemed to have more nausea driving up to Baltimore. We finally twigged that it was motion-sickness (anyone who drives the streets there knows what I mean) and probably brought on by his using more oxycodone as the days went on (nausea is one of its side-effects). Anyway, he did 22 treatments which is about a record at Hopkins.

Ethyol is probably worth trying but according to RO at Hopkins (who is expert on amiphostine) is adds about 10% to parotid preservation -- the radiation plan itself and whether one gets tomo, IMRT or conventional beam has more impact. It also costs about $1000 a pop so insurance may be an issue as well.

Gail