Sharon,

I don't know who told you that the radiation effects would plateau in week 4 of 7, but it sounds like someone who has never actually experienced radiation. I can't recall a single poster on this site who has reached a "plateau" in side effects midway through treatment, so I'm concerned that you may have gotten some misleading information. Personally I found the first few weeks to be pretty tolerable, and I was eating about the same things you are, but the remaining weeks of treatment (and several weeks after that) got much worse in terms of pain, thrush, and eating difficulties.

While I was able to get through without a PEG tube, eating became an increasing struggle in the last several weeks of radiation and for a couple of months after that. Since you have the tube available, you may find that you want to make use of it at some point.

Cathy