Bonnie,

The first 2 weeks of Rad are usually OK. In the 3rd week she should notice her taste being affected and some soreness. Remember not everyone is the same. You also haven't mentioned concurrent chemo? Chemo can make a difference.

After she starts feeling the effects of rad, they usually get worse and worse until about the 2nd or 3rd week POST Tx. I came out of my dark tunnel in the 2nd week post TX and have steadely gotten better and better BUT I never would have thought so the way I felt during Tx.

Not only will they rad both sides of her neck but I would think they will also do the middle of her throat it get the BOT.

As far as permanent effects of Tx, I was told that my taste and my salava production will return. It may take a year or so but that's what I was told. My taste is about 60% of normal now(my est) but my dry mouth is a no change. I did experience a perm hearing loss due to the chemo as I was told but my chemo doc says he's not sure if it will be perm. I hope he's right.

I would let her know that this will probably be the worse experience she has ever had BUT TELL HER THAT"S NORMAL, EVERYONE HAS A ROUGH TIME. My docs kinda down played how bad I would feel assuring me that they had meds for everything....WRONG !! When it seemed that nothing they gave me helped, I started feeling like I was abnormal and perhaps worse off than they were telling me. Only after finding this group (2 weeks post Tx) did I realize I was normal. Knowing that during Tx would have helped my psychie.

Mark the end of week 2 following Tx on her calendar so that she can at least see a target for exiting this dark tunnel she is about to enter. Also mark 2 months to the day after Tx on her cal and tell her she will feel 80 to 90% normal by then. My rad doc did that for me and he was right on. I didn't believe him at all until it happened but it did and it also helped me get through my tunnel.