Laura,
There is a reason that they call us "patients". Always having been an impatient person, I learned real patience while going through and recovering from my treatments. The way that I look at it, we really have no choice but to grin and bear it. I spent lots of time in waiting rooms at MD Anderson and my recovery took much more time than I thought it would based on the doctors' projections.

The hardest part for me was when I felt bad near the end of the radiation treatments and in the period shortly after those treatments ended. What made it so hard was that feeling bad was very discouraging because, at the time, I could not envision ever getting back to living a good life.

Well, as it turned out, I did recover and life is every bit as good as it was before the cancer. Sure I have to carry a bottle of water everywhere I go, my dry mouth wakes me up at night and eating on the run is a little difficult. But other than those minor things I can do anything that I want and I feel fine. I even married a wonderful woman post cancer and am about to experience my second daughter going off to college in the fall, when, at one time, I did not know if I would make it to my first daughter's high school graduation.

You sound like you are doing really well, and, you are lucky to be getting IMRT, an option that I was never given. Keep up the good work and keep the faith. I hope that you have better luck with your feeding tube. Mine was no problem at all.

By the way, I still drink Boost. I like the taste of chocolate Boost and keep it in my office and golf bag for snacks when I feel hungry.

Danny G.