Nicki,
Congrats on getting Tom home. I was so happy on my last day of radiation at MDACC when I threw that mask in the trash, rang the bell, and went home. Little did I know that the hard part had just begun. Something about seeing those people everyday and even twice a day and being proactive about getting treated, energizes us. But once treatment ended, I got very depressed for the first time and thought...at 8 AM, " what do I have to look forward to...my noon tube feeding?" I say this not to make you sad, but to prepare you, as others have done, by mentioning that the first few weeks after radiation can be very difficult.

The good new is that once I started taking a walk every day, made sure that a friend or two visited every day, ran a couple of simple errands, and even got some counseling, things rapidly improved.
Best of luck and take care...of both of you.

Danny G.

Stage IV Base of Tongue SCC
Diagnosed July 1, 2002, chemo and radiation treatments completed beginning of Sept/02.